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Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe.
On Monday, the 4-year-old company launched Bumble Bizz, a women-focused approach to networking. The new feature has been in the works for more than a year - it was initially intended to launch fall 2016 - but it's finally rolling out to all users in the US, Canada, UK, France, and Germany.
Bumble Bizz will live inside Bumble's app and will work just like the original Bumble and Bumble's friendship-focused section, BFF. Users will see people that are in their geographic location and are open to networking or mentoring. Then, users can swipe left or right depending on whether they're interested in connecting.
What makes Bumble Bizz slightly different from Bumble's other two networks is that users will be able to upload a digital resume, a skills section, and examples of their work. Just like the rest of Bumble, however, women will have to make the first move.
Bumble Bumble Bizz is intended to help women network and find mentors in a more casual setting than traditional sites like LinkedIn.
"Our users were already using our platform to network. So, we decided to introduce that curated section of the app to give them a distinct place to do this," Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe told Business Insider last year when Bizz was announced. "This isn't us introducing random new features. This is us listening to our users, and really inching toward our grand vision, which is to be the place for people to meet."
With sites like LinkedIn, Wolfe said at the time, there's an air of formality that can be intimidating. Bizz, on the other hand, will facilitate a more casual interaction since "oftentimes, success comes from spontaneous connections," Wolfe said.
"Just like in dating, we as a company firmly believe that women and men don't get treated with equality in business," she said. "We're doing our very best to be a feminist product. Are we absolutely 100% perfect? No, absolutely not. We know that we have a long way to go."
Bumble Bizz is free to use and is available starting Monday. It lives inside the Bumble app, which is free to download on the App Store. Bumble Bizz is coming to the Google Play store on October 18.