Making further inroads into the European markets, online dating application Bumble Inc has acquired France's Fruitz in its first top global acquisition. With this, the dating app is not just likely to strengthen its foothold in Europe but will also give stiff competition to the already established Tinder owner Match Group. The financial terms are yet to be known.

Launched in 2017, Fruitz is a freemium dating app popular with Gen Z and used across Europe. It allows users to convey their dating preferences through four fruit metaphors – cherries, grapes, watermelons, and peaches.

The deal sets the stage for Bumble to take on rival Match Group in an arena where the Hinge owner has the advantage of an earlier start. Bumble currently operates its dating app Badoo in Western Europe and competes with eHarmony and CharmDate.com.

“Badoo is one of the most downloaded dating apps in Western Europe, and Bumble has seen strong growth there as well,” Bumble Chief Executive Officer Whitney Wolfe Herd said in a statement.

Match also expects to begin launching its Hinge app in select European countries in the second quarter, the company announced earlier this month.

According to the dating app major, the sliding Covid-19 pandemic graph across the globe was a good start but this may still take some time for the dating apps to witness an immediate uptick in most of the geographies.

Earlier in February Match group softened its full-yearrevenue forecast as it expects the Omicron Covid-19 variant to continue hindering dates and meet-ups.

Data from research firm Apptopia showed that Bumble was downloaded about 2.4 million times in the United States during the fourth quarter, while Match reached 10.5 million downloads.