They say sex sells, and cliche could not be more accurate in the case of dating tool Grindr, which sold a majority stake to Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun World Wide Technology Co. for $93 million, valuing the app at $248 million, based on nearly $40 million in 2015 revenue.
“It will generally be business as usual for us here at Grindr, but with a renewed sense of purpose and additional resources to deliver a great product to you,” Grindr founder and CEO Joel Simkhai announced in a blog post today. “We hope you are enjoying our app and know you will be delighted by the new features and services we have planned this year.”
Grindr boasts nearly two million daily users, dominating the market, but is facing stiff competition for more niche apps such as Scruff, Hornet, Distinc.tt, which caters to young gay men, and more mainstream ones like Tinder, which allows users to search by sexual orientation. The cash infusion will allow Simkhai to pursue a broader lifestyle vision beyond dating and hookups, where it has thrived. An earlier effort to expand into opposite-sex dating, Blendr, did not succeed.
The partnership is noteworthy not just for the huge valuation but for the involvement of a Chinese firm. The nation still fails to recognize same-sex marriage, and while the LGBTQ community is making some inroads, homosexuality is considered taboo. But that didn’t stop a Chinese entity from being the proud owner of the largest collection of sexually explicit messages (not to mention images) on the planet.
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Grindr has also been known to play a role in the politics of outing. In fact, an antigay preacher caught red handed sending sexually explicit messages to a young man last year became one of Queerty’s most popular posts: Grindr Screenshots Reveal Antigay Pastor Is A Top Who Likes To Cuddle.
maxxbot
I always get a chuckle at the Grindr stock photos, as if that’s ever the selection of guys you’re going to see on one screen.
Michael Edmonds
93 million ” BIG” what’s?ð???
Derek Perron
I explicitly said no Asians on my profile, and they keep trying!!! Ugh
For 93 mil I guess I could say hi back . HEEEY
Dieter Michaels
93,000,000 dollars…… for an app full of nothing but bots and racists… good business model.
foodle
@Derek Perron: lol and this is what’s wrong with the world. Bigots like you exist xD
Dennis Boo Sundquist
Awwww.. the good jokes are already taken 🙁
Aromaeus
@foodle: That was clearly a joke. Like come on.
I don’t understand why Grindr is still so popular when there are more apps that allow you to do more without upgrading to a premium version. Dieter put it nicely it’s just full of bots and r@cists.
Giancarlo85
Grindr is a total joke full of white4white and masc4masc types. Full of self hating downlow closet bigots and some of which are married and even have kids. So after you sort those out, you have fake profiles and bots. And after that, nothing at all. Save your phone data.
Will Glitzern
Now the hook-ups are made in China, too
Thomas Kasperek
Rice queens unite!
QJ201
Joel Simkhai cashed out.
They’ll trash “the brand” within two years in the endless pursuit of profits and not offending their investors.
Has ANY “gay brand” or “product” ever thrived after being bought up by a big corporation?
Phillip Bernal
These apps are for pussy men who are not able or grown enough to meet men like grown men. Face to Face..
Masc Pride
@maxxbot: Depends on where you live. It’s pretty true to life in some areas (think Chelsea, WeHo, SoBe, etc.)
@Will Glitzern: Lol good one.
@Phillip Bernal: But they do meet face to face…and then ass to face. Lighten up.
NoCagada
“Grindr boasts nearly two million daily users, dominating the market, but is facing stiff competition …”
What a BONER! SNORT SNORT
James Sigmon
Fake app 75%fake profiles
James Sigmon
Just stop using app and let it go.
lykeitiz
Yes, because if there’s anyone I want tracking my, ahem-gay”dating”, it’s an oppressive communist regime.
Vanessa Forbes
A loophole to The Great Firewall of China. If there is a will there is a way.
Marcus Troy
Sell a Gay App to a Firm sanctioned by a Homophobic Government. Well let the conspiracy theories start to fly about how long it’s going to take for Chinese gays to start being rounded up.
dubstepskater
@Marcus Troy: you know, that’s what I was thinking…. What if they try to use Grindr to track down and incarcerate gays? Hmmm… at least I wasn’t the only one thinking this.
MarionPaige
It might help to realize that a lot of investment money in media and film companies are coming from China today, because China is where there are people with a lot of money to invest. For example, a lot of A-List Movie Directors who you would think could get money from anywhere to make films (or, us their own money) are making deals with investors from China and India.
It is possible that this investment will in fact provide Grindr CEO Joel Simkhai with the resources to realize his vision for Grindr without interference from an investor.
However, as a gay owned company with actual gay customers, there was some hope that Grindr could blaze a new trail on its own as a unique gay media company.
Raúl Hernández
Breaking: Grindr loses (hopefully) millions of users
Daniel-Reader
So Grindr is now majority owned by a company in a country that refuses to even permit gay organizations to register as non-profit organizations. Wow… that is depressing.
MarionPaige
According to reports, the big money being paid for odd domain names (like domain names with llll) can be traced to China and a lot of Chinese investors looking for something to invest in.
Michael Shepard
Bring on the little dicks!
Chris
Well this guarantees that I’ll never use Grindr. It’s not because I object to the app or to their new owners, per se. It’s because since Lenovo switched to be Chinese owned, it began to load spyware onto its systems; at last count on the Hacker News, it’s been busted for doing so at least three times.
Alexis Barros
Another thing the Chinese own. How grand.
Kangol
@Marcus Troy: It’s all about the money. That’s the American way!
Allen Richard
Guess it’s time to delete the app
Captain Obvious
Most of the idiots on Grindr are married or in relationships looking to hookup anonymously.
I’m very surprised anyone would pay 93 mil for such a useless app. Good for the creators though.
Michael Cotten-Ward
Idk why, but… The fact that it’s a Chinese company kinda scares me. ð??³
1898
@Chris: Exactly. Our smartphones spy on us enough already. No f’ing way am I putting a Chinese-owned app on my phone. I already had several good reasons to delete it but this is the reason that’ll actually make me do it.
Lest anyone misunderstand: I have absolutely nothing against Chinese people, or Asian people. I DO have a problem with the shady things done by Chinese companies and the Chinese govt.