Whitney Wolfe Herd is the American entrepreneur who founded Bumble, the dating app where women make the first move, after co-founding Tinder. When Bumble listed on the stock market in 2021 she became, at 31, the youngest woman ever to take a company public — and the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire at the time.
| Full Name | Whitney Wolfe Herd |
| Born | 5 July 1989, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA |
| Age | 37 (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur; founder and CEO of Bumble |
| Known For | Bumble; co-founding Tinder |
| Net Worth (est.) | Around $500 million (Forbes est., 2025); peaked above $1 billion after Bumble’s 2021 IPO |
Early Life and First Business
Wolfe Herd grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of property developer Michael Wolfe and his wife Kelly. She studied international studies at Southern Methodist University in Texas, spent time studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, and showed an entrepreneurial streak early: at 19 she launched a line of bamboo tote bags to raise money after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a project that drew celebrity buyers. After university she travelled in South-East Asia and worked with orphanages before returning to the US and joining the Los Angeles tech scene.
Tinder, Then Bumble
In 2012 Wolfe Herd joined the incubator Hatch Labs, where she worked on a dating-app project that became Tinder. As a co-founder and vice-president of marketing she is credited with naming the app and driving its college-campus launch strategy. She left in 2014 and, after a settled legal dispute with the company, partnered with Badoo founder Andrey Andreev on a new concept: a dating app built to reduce harassment by letting women initiate every conversation. Bumble launched in December 2014, with Wolfe Herd as founder and CEO and Andreev’s Badoo providing funding and infrastructure.
The IPO Record and a Return as CEO
Bumble grew into a broader social-networking company, adding Bumble BFF for friendships and Bumble Bizz for professional networking, and in 2019 a Blackstone-led deal valued the business at about $3 billion. Its February 2021 Nasdaq IPO made Wolfe Herd the youngest woman to take a company public and, briefly, the youngest self-made female billionaire on Forbes’ lists. She stepped down as CEO at the start of 2024, but with the share price slumping she returned to the top job in 2025 to lead a turnaround — an unusually candid second act for a founder.
Whitney Wolfe Herd Net Worth
Her fortune tracks Bumble’s stock. At the IPO’s peak her stake was worth roughly $1.3–1.5 billion on paper; as Bumble’s market value fell sharply over the following years, Forbes’ estimates dropped with it, to the region of $500 million in 2025. The swing is a clean illustration of why founder fortunes are estimates: almost all of her wealth is Bumble equity, so the published number changes with every trading day and could recover — or shrink further — with the company’s turnaround.
Personal Life
Wolfe Herd married Michael Herd, a Texas oil-and-gas heir and restaurateur, in a 2017 ceremony on Italy’s Amalfi Coast; the couple have two children. The family is based in Austin, Texas. She has spoken openly about the pressure and abuse directed at women founders, funded anti-harassment causes — Bumble backed the Texas law criminalising unsolicited explicit images — and remains one of the most prominent female chief executives in consumer technology. Friends and profile writers consistently describe her as a marketer first: the instincts behind the tote-bag campaign at 19, the naming of Tinder and the women-first rule at Bumble all come from the same place — understanding exactly how a product makes people feel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Whitney Wolfe Herd?
She was born on 5 July 1989, making her 37 years old in 2026.
What did Whitney Wolfe Herd found?
She founded Bumble in 2014 — after co-founding Tinder in 2012 — building it around the idea that women make the first move.
Why is Whitney Wolfe Herd famous in business history?
At Bumble’s February 2021 IPO she became the youngest woman to take a company public and the youngest self-made female billionaire of that moment.
What is Whitney Wolfe Herd’s net worth?
Forbes estimates put it in the region of $500 million in 2025, down from more than $1 billion at Bumble’s post-IPO peak, because most of her wealth is Bumble stock.
Related Biographies
Melanie Perkins and Brian Chesky — more in our Entrepreneurs & Founders collection.
Net worth and salary figures are estimates based on publicly available sources and may change over time.
