Whitney Wolfe Herd

Whitney is a smart leader.

She helped start a big app. This app is called Bumble. Many people use it to meet others.

She also worked on an app called Tinder. She helped it become very popular.

Whitney works hard in Texas. She has two young sons.

She is a very famous boss. She even became a billionaire!

Whitney Wolfe Herd is a famous business leader.

She helped start a very popular app called Tinder. She was the vice president of marketing there. This means she helped many people find and use the app.

Later, she started a new company called Bumble Inc. She wanted to make a social network for women. Bumble is a dating app where women can connect. By the year 2015, people had made 80 million matches on it.

Whitney has won many awards for her work. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list twice. In 2021, she led her company in a big sale called an initial public offering. This is a way for a company to sell parts of itself to the public.

After this, she became the youngest female billionaire in the world. She was only 31 years old at that time. Whitney lives in Austin, Texas. She has two sons. She also speaks up to help women stay safe on apps.

Whitney Wolfe Herd is a famous American business leader.

She is most known for founding Bumble Inc. This company makes apps for people to meet. She also helped start the popular app Tinder. She worked there as the vice president of marketing. Her work helped the app grow very quickly on college campuses. Today, she is a very successful entrepreneur.

Her journey began with many different projects. At age 20, she started a non-profit called the Help Us Project. She sold bamboo bags to help areas hurt by an oil spill. Later, she worked with orphanages in Southeast Asia. In 2012, she joined a startup called Cardify. This led her to the Tinder team. She even helped choose the name Tinder. She thought of the name because tinder is material used to start a fire.

After leaving Tinder in 2014, she had a new vision. She wanted to build a social network for women. She first thought of calling it Merci. She later worked with Andrey Andreev to build Bumble. He provided $10 million to help start the company. Wolfe Herd moved to Austin, Texas, in December 2014. She wanted to focus on making the app work. By 2015, Bumble had reached 80 million matches.

Many groups have honored her hard work. In 2014, Business Insider named her a top woman in tech. She was on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, InStyle called her one of the women changing the world. Time magazine also put her on the Time 100 list. In 2021, she became the youngest female billionaire in the world. She was only 31 years old when this happened.

Her success connects to how we use phones today. In 2021, she led Bumble through an initial public offering. This is when a company sells parts of itself to the public. She rang the bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange. She even had her 18-month-old son with her. Now, she uses her voice to help women stay safe online. She has even talked to leaders in Texas about this hard job.

Whitney Wolfe Herd is a prominent American entrepreneur and business leader. She is best known as the founder, executive chair, and CEO of Bumble Inc.

She also played a key role as a co-founder of the dating app Tinder. In that role, she served as the Vice President of Marketing. Her leadership helped build the user base for Tinder on college campuses. Today, she is recognized globally for her impact on the technology and social networking industries.

Wolfe Herd's career began with early interest in social causes and business. While studying at Southern Methodist University, she launched a non-profit called the Help Us Project. At age 20, she partnered with stylist Patrick Aufdenkamp to sell bamboo tote bags. These bags helped fund relief for areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The project gained national attention through celebrities like Rachel Zoe and Nicole Richie. Following this, she launched a clothing line called Tender Heart. After her studies, she also worked with orphanages in Southeast Asia.

Her path into the tech industry started in 2012 at age 22. She joined a startup named Cardify at the Hatch Labs business incubator. This work led her to join the development team for Tinder, originally called MatchBox. Wolfe Herd is credited with naming the app. She drew inspiration from the flame logo and the concept of tinder, which is material used to start fires. She served as Vice President of Marketing before resigning in April 2014. This departure followed a lawsuit regarding sexual discrimination and harassment, which resulted in a settlement of over $1 million.

After leaving Tinder, Wolfe Herd envisioned a new kind of social network. She initially imagined a female-only network centered on compliments called Merci. She eventually partnered with Andrey Andreev, the founder of Badoo. Andreev provided a $10 million investment and the infrastructure of Badoo to help launch Bumble Inc.

Wolfe Herd moved to Austin, Texas, in December 2014 to develop the app. She originally considered naming the app Moxie, but the name was already in use. By December 2015, the Bumble app had achieved 80 million matches and 15 million conversations.

Wolfe Herd has received many honors for her professional achievements. In 2014, Business Insider named her one of the 30 most important women under 30 in tech. She appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 lists in both 2017 and 2018. In 2018, InStyle recognized her as one of 50 women changing the world. Time magazine also included her on the Time 100 list. These distinctions highlight her influence as a leader in the technology sector.

The growth of Bumble Inc. has been marked by significant financial milestones. In November 2019, The Blackstone Group purchased a majority stake in the company. At that time, Bumble was valued at $3 billion and had approximately 75 million users. Wolfe Herd held a 19% ownership stake and served as CEO. By 2020, the company reached over 100 million users worldwide. In February 2021, the company went public through an initial public offering, or IPO. At age 31, Wolfe Herd became the youngest woman to lead an IPO in the United States. This event also made her the world's youngest female billionaire.

Wolfe Herd's work extends into advocacy and the future of technology. In 2019, she testified before the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence committee. She spoke about the issue of unsolicited explicit photos sent to women on dating apps. She continues to look toward new tools, such as artificial intelligence, to assist in online dating. While she stepped into an executive chair role in 2024, she was announced as returning to the CEO position in early 2025. Her life and career have become so notable that they inspired the 2025 film Swiped.