How does Grindr make money?
More than 83 percent of Grindr’s direct revenues are generated via its subscription and premium add-on systems, totaling more than 163.31 million U.S. dollars in 2022. Its remaining indirect revenues are generated via third-party advertising, partnerships, merchandise, and other non-direct activities. Grindr is available in three tiers: a free version, with paid features, and the XTRA and Premium paid versions. The app previously had a free web version released in 2019, allowing users to access the app via desktops, later exclusive to paying users.Where is Grindr most popular?
Grindr’s core audiences are located in North America and Europe, where 87 percent of the company’s revenues were generated. The United States remains its main market, being the country that most generated revenue and downloads for the app. But while markets like the United Kingdom, France, and Canada follow as the most profitable places, Grindr is mostly downloaded in Brazil, India, and Mexico, showing an imbalance between those willing or able to pay for its subscription prices.Talk good, talk bad
Grindr's history dates to 2009 in Los Angeles, where it was released as an iOS mobile app and on Android in 2011. Adding some of its core features to its location-based model in its early years, it quickly popularized and became one of the main facilitators and alternatives for non-heterosexual online dating, shortly bringing a subscription alternative and including filters for preferences and tribes common to the queer community. Alongside its pioneering character, Grindr started facing criticism with some of its developments, especially those regarding user privacy, moderation, and user behavior.To tackle endless bots and catfish profiles, a 2013 app launch required Grindr users to provide an e-mail for verification, a move deemed by some users as the end of full anonymity on the platform. While its location system allows the triangulation of individuals, the app was fined 6.5 million euros in 2018 by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority for sharing sensitive user information with third parties. Additionally, Grindr remains one of the dating apps that most collects user data, while the exposure of minors that manage to enter the platform still poses a hard-to-tackle issue.
A troubled ownership…
At the beginning of 2016, Chinese mobile gaming company Beijing Kunlun took over a majority stake in Grindr and acquired its remaining shares in 2018. The enterprise started hinting at an initial public offering (IPO) of the app, but plans were delayed after concerns were raised that China could use sensitive information of U.S. users. Grindr was then sold to the U.S.-based group San Vicente Acquisition Partners in 2020 via a 605.5 million U.S. dollars transaction.The company finally announced its public listing in May 2022 and finished its reverse merger deal with Tiga Group in November. Interest in the company sparked and its shares soared in another groundbreaking moment for a LGBTQI+-focused company. However, problems didn’t cease as criticism towards its newly named CEO arose and the company’s order for remote workers to return to offices in major U.S. city centers temporarily halved its workforce, raising a complaint by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), dubbed as an attempt to suffocate the creation of the company’s worker’s union.
