Whitney Wolfe, CEO of Bumble and World’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaire

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Whitney Wolfe was born in Utah in 1989 and, from a very young age, began to participate in projects with a solid technological base but also related to environmental protection. Proof of this is that, when she was only 20 years old, she set up a business selling bamboo tote bags to benefit the communities affected by the oil spill from one of the BP plants in the Gulf of Mexico. Her bags caught the attention of celebrities such as stylist Rachel Zoe as well as actresses Kate Bosworth and Denise Richards.

Three years later, in 2012, when the entrepreneur was 23 years old, Herd joined the dating app Tinder as co-founder and vice president of marketing. Whitney Wolfe chose the app’s name and was recognized for making Tinder popular on college campuses in the United States. However, a case of sexual abuse reported by the entrepreneur ended with her leaving the company. The case reportedly settled for over $1 million. A few months later, Whitney Wolfe founded Bumble, a revolutionary dating app where only female users could send the first message to the men they met.

At 32 years old, Whitney is already one of the world’s wealthiest female entrepreneurs. Wolfe Herd’s wealth went from $575 million to $1.6 billion after Bumble’s stock market debut in February 2021. She has an 11.6% stake in the company, valued at $1.5 billion. Her company is now valued at 14 billion.

The success story of Wolfe Herd is considered a “rare case” because only 5% of the 500 largest fortunes in the world belong to women, most of them Asian. Bumble is also one of only three companies founded by women out of the 559 that went on the market in 2020.

The app has more than 12 million monthly users and 2.4 million in its paid version, which offers advantages such as making your profile stand out more in searches. Bumble’s success was to appeal directly to women, allowing them to take the first step in establishing contact with men.

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But her role as CEO of Bumble and her shares in Tinder are not the only businesses that Whitney Wolfe has specialized in. She is also an investor in other projects of this type. A great example is Chappy, a dating app specialized in the homosexual public. In addition, she has an investment fund for projects led by women.

Bumble’s goal was to stop and combat sexual harassment since the fear of being harassed is what still prevents many women from seeking a partner online. Wolfe Herd saw an opportunity in this issue and, based on her experience, turned it into a solution and a gold mine. Thanks to all her achievements, Whitney Wolfe is today the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire.