The practice of dating has evolved a lot and quickly over the last decade. Gone are the days of personal ads, speed-dating, and blind dates (unless you get a specific app for that). Thanks to dating apps, single people can choose from a wider pool of potentials and get it touch more easily than ever. It's the efficient way of dating, and like it or not, dating apps are a regular part of the cultural zeitgeist. Over the last decade, Tinder and its unique "hot or not" swiping technique have been mentioned in stand-up comedy, late night talk shows, and just about every friend group on the face of the earth.
Tinder debuted in 2012, the app's claim to fame was the swiping, which made sorting through pictures feel akin to pressing buttons in a video game. The app also utilized a short form approach to scanning potential partners, leaving the days of lengthy profiles in the dust.
Meanwhile, in 2015, Match Group (MTCH) went public, and since then, Match has been scooping up other dating apps to add to its service library. In 2019, Match Group bought Tinder for a whopping $1.9 billion. It was a great acquisition for the company that launched the old-school Match.com back in 1993 before dating moved to mobile. Today, the company owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and more.
One dating app Match hasn't managed to acquire, however, is Bumble (BMBL). The app was designed by a former Tinder employee, and is famous for a messaging system that lets women reach out first. Last February, the dating app went public, and it's even been making its own acquisitions.
Now, another household name dating app has joined the New York Stock Exchange--and it's the first of its kind to do so.
Grindr Goes Public
Reports in May indicated that the popular LGBTQ dating and hookup app Grindr was in talks to separate from its parent company Tiga Acquisitions Corp. Earlier in the week, West Hollywood-based app Grindr announced the closing of business combination with its former parent-group. The move was approved on November 15 in a meeting of stockholders, renaming the company Grindr Inc. under the ticker symbol GRND.
Wall Street welcomed the IPO sending shares up 25% in their first day of trading to close at $36.50.
According to Chief Executive Officer George Arison, “Today marks an important milestone not only for the team at Grindr, but for the LGBTQ community we serve. We enter the public markets with momentum, carried by our market leadership, strong financial performance and significant growth runway as we step up investment in our core product and services."
And that community isn't small, either. Last year, Grindr seduced about 11 million monthly users.
LGBTQ in Business and the Dating World
Arison will continue to serve as the company's CEO after his appointment in September. Grindr's new CEO is one of a handful of openly-gay CEOs of a public company in the U.S. CFO Vanna Krantz will remain on staff as the CFO of Grindr Inc.
In addition, the new company's Board of Directors will also be an incredibly representative LGBTQ board. And that's all well, because Grindr has been a staple in the gay and queer dating community since its founding. Historically, finding partners has been a potentially dangerous activity for queer people. The use of dating apps, particularly queer-centric apps like Grindr, allow for the safety of meeting people without face-to-face interactions.
As for the company's growth, they are hiring for a variety of positions. You know, in case you know any recently-liberated Twitter employees looking to program something a little spicier.
