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Do you know what the founders of Bumble, Spanx, and Hello Sunshine have in common?

What does Whitney Wolfe Herd of Bumble, Sara Blakely of Spanx, and Reese Witherspoon of Hello Sunshine have in common? HINT: it starts with a 'B'.
Janet Lee
Janet Lee
Jan 5, 2022
Do you know what the founders of Bumble, Spanx, and Hello Sunshine have in common?

What does Whitney Wolfe Herd of Bumble, Sara Blakely of Spanx, and Reese Witherspoon of Hello Sunshine have in common? HINT: it starts with a 'B'.

Ann Chung

You're right, it's Blackstone! Ann Chung, the Managing Director of Blackstone Growth, leads an all-female team that took a majority stake in these three companies in 2021. She's from Virginia, started out as a bank analyst, got an MBA in Wharton, and is now married with 2 small kids. Chung is passionate about consumer-related companies and wants to “build great brands that stand for something”.

So, what's the valuation?

  • Bumble was acquired in 2019 for $3B and is currently valued at $5B.
  • Spanx was valued at $1.2B after acquisition from generating $400M revenue in the previous year.
  • Blackstone spent $500M on a deal with Hello Sunshine, valuing the company at $900M.

When women support each other, amazing things can happen.

Follow @jayleejanet for more!

Sources

By Janet Lee

Janet Lee is an MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on a full-tuition fellowship. She is currently working for TenOneTen Ventures, Visible Hands VC and Tech Coast Angels. Before business school, she started two businesses, a tech-forward real estate brokerage and international trade & logistics company. Her MBA focus is venture capital, for which she was recently awarded the Deutschman Venture Fellowship.

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