Bumble is a dating app that claims to empower women and give them a safer environment by letting them make the first move – but former staff at its parent company say the corporate culture is one of sleaze and misogyny, according to an explosive new report.
Thirteen former employees told Forbes that women were ‘routinely discussed in terms of their appearance’ and urged to watch a video ‘of an employee receiving oral sex from a prostitute’.
Bumble — the No. 2 dating app in the U.S. behind Tinder — was launched five years ago by Whitney Wolfe Herd, who previously co-founded Tinder, but left the company in 2014, claiming sexual harassment by her co-founder and ex-boyfriend Justin Matee.
But what’s lesser known is that she teamed up with the Russian billionaire Andrey Andreev, founder and CEO of the dating app Badoo, which provided the infrastructure for Bumble.
Andreev – who is the majority owner of Bumble – reportedly oversaw a sleazy office culture where the objectification of women was routine.
Bumble was launched in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd (right). But the company is majority-owned by her founding partner Andrey Andreev (left), the Russian founder and CEO of the dating app Badoo, who reportedly oversaw a sleazy office culture where the objectification of women was routine
Wolfe Herd (left) founded Bumble with a mission to empower women and keep them safe. But her founding partner Andreev (right) has been accused of making derogatory remarks about female employees
Wolfe Herd (pictured in 2018) launched Bumble in an act of corporate revenge. She had previously sued Tinder, where she had been an early executive, for sexual harassment, alleging that her ex-boss and ex-boyfriend sent threats and derogatory text messages
Jessica Powell, Badoo’s chief marketing officer from 2011 to 2012, said she was told ‘to act pretty for investors and make job candidates “horny” to work for Badoo’.
She was also once asked to give a designer candidate a massage, and said ‘female employees were routinely discussed in terms of their appearance.’
‘When female staff spoke up, their concerns were ignored or minimized,’ she added.
Sources also told Forbes that engineering updates were named after porn stars, although the report said Andreev put a stop to that in 2018.
Andreev called women ‘cyka’ – meaning ‘b***h’ in his native tongue – according to Powell.
Andreev is accused of making other inappropriate remarks, including about the company’s predominantly Latino userbase when it launched in the US in the early 2010s.
‘Andrey was always making it clear that white was better,’ a former executive said.
He also allegedly rejected a job candidate last year for being ‘too fat’.
‘No, she’s fat. Can you imagine her speaking to the press and being the face of Badoo?,’ one former employee quoted him as saying.
Andreev denied the allegations to Forbes and said diversity was ‘at the core of our brands’.
Former Badoo employees also told Forbes that staff at its London HQ held wild cocaine-fueled parties with prostitutes.
Russian billionaire Andreev (pictured in 2018) launched Badoo, Bumble’s London-based parent, in 2006
The former Badoo office in Soho, London which served as the company’s headquarters at the time of the alleged drug-fuelled parties in 2011 and 2012
Several of those interviewed said they had knowledge of parties at which ‘everyone was naked and doing lines of coke’.
The parties were allegedly so wild that they were frequently discussed on company emails – with photos and videos of the drug-fueled binges routinely being shared.
The incidents allegedly took place between 2011 and 2012, some six years after Badoo was founded and during a phase of rapid growth.
One person told Forbes they saw a picture of a gathering featuring several employees: ‘Everyone was naked and doing lines of coke, and they were sending these photos over the internal email system.’
A private Facebook group of about 200 Badoo alumni also contains references to the gatherings.
Andreev founded Badoo in 2006 and the company was in a period of rapid growth at the time of the alleged incidents
Andreev is also a founding partner in Bumble, whose signature feature is letting women make the first move
‘I wonder if current Badoo’s know of the after parties with prostitutes and cocaine in all their offices,’
‘I miss the days of Ketamine infused after parties in Badoo,’ another said in a message.
Andreev did not go to these parties, but he was aware of them and allowed them to happen, a former engineer told Forbes. Andreev denies this.
Andreev set up Badoo in 2006, and it is his biggest asset. The European- and Latin American-focused dating app has 60 million users and stands as one of the world’s largest.
He also took a leading role in the launch of Bumble, saying ‘I understood and I see that we needed to attract women to be on the platform, but how? We needed to make a safe place, a place where every woman on the planet [would] feel very comfortable.’
Andreev contacted Wolfe Herd after she settled the lawsuit with Tinder, suggesting they collaborate.
Her sexual harassment allegations against her ex-boss and ex-boyfriend Justin Matee at Tinder point to a wider problem of misogyny in the world of hookup app companies.
She had been an early executive, but Tinder stripped her of a co-founder title and denied any wrongdoing.
Wolfe Herd claims it was Andreev who pushed for a woman-driven dating app.
The Russian provided the infrastructure, including development and engineering, in the London office, although Bumble’s titular headquarters is in Austin, Texas.
Bumble is one of four dating apps he owns (the others being Badoo, Chappy and Lumen).
From the beginning, Andreev rooted Badoo’s corporate structure in numerous offshore entities, according to Forbes.
In June he created Magic Lab as a holding company for the dating apps.
According to Forbes, Andreev net worth is now $1.5 billion.
Wolfe Herd, who has a 20 percent stake in Bumble compared with Andreev’s 59 to 79 percent cut, defended him, saying in a statement that he has become her family and one of her best friends.
‘What I’ve seen firsthand from Andrey is creative and motivating behavior,’ Wolfe Herd said.
‘Andrey has never been anything but kind and respectful to me.’
Andreev has helped make her rich, with a net worth Forbes estimates at more than $300 million.
A spokesperson for MagicLab, Badoo’s holding company, told MailOnline: ‘MagicLab is a family of brands that are built off of diversity and thrive in addressing societal issues by building relationships all over the world.
‘We are extremely disappointed in the reckless reporting of the Forbes reporter.’
‘Not a single current employee is quoted, our fact-check corrections were largely ignored, and the journalist refused to talk to dozens of former and current employees who came forward to counter the sensationalist narrative of only a few former disgruntled employees.’
Andreev also told Forbes that Powell’s assessment of objectification of woman was an attempt to market her novel ‘The Big Disruption,’ which was published earlier this year.
In response to Glassdoor reviews that said sexism, racism and bigotry were a big part of everyday life at Badoo, the company sent a survey in January to female employees in the London office asking if they had experienced or witnessed workplace discrimination, Forbes reported.
Several former Badoo employees said that the culture has slowly been improving.