Image of the Grindr app on a mobile phone. Aly Song (Reuters)
Grindr goes public.
The dating application specialized in the LGTBQ+ collective will begin trading on Wall Street and launches a special nod to its target audience.
The majority of the board of directors will be from the LGTBQ+ community, according to information registered this Monday with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC).
In addition, the company seeks to sign as CEO an executive of said group, with whom it is already negotiating, as reported to the SEC.
“It has long been the goal of the current owners and directors of Grindr that Grindr be run by members of the LGBTQ+ community,” the company explains.
The new CEO candidate "would bring deep and broad experience in technology, finance and management, including time spent in an executive leadership role at a public company," says the company, which does not reveal his name for now.
What he has published are the names of the directors.
With the help of Audeliss, a global executive search company specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion, Grindr has recruited members of the LGBTQ+ community from all walks of life.
The CEO of Shift Technologies, George Arison;
the former US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Daniel Baer;
Simpson Thacher's senior partner, Gary Horowitz;
Hootsuite Marketing Director Maggie Lower;
investor and technology executive Nathan Richardson; and BigCommerce VP of Marketing and Communications Meghan Stabler.
“Grindr is an icon.
The opportunities are enormous.
On behalf of my community, I can't wait to work with this council and the awesome folks at Grindr to showcase even more LGBTQ+ people," Maggie Lower said in a statement.
G. Raymond Zage, Chairman and CEO of Tiga, will also be a member of the Grindr Board, along with Jeff Bonforte, current CEO of Grindr, and James F. Lu, who will continue as Chairman after the transaction.
Current investor and former Atlanta Hawks owner J. Michael Gearon, Jr. will also remain on the board.
$2 billion valuation
The dating company will not make a public offer for the sale or subscription of shares, but goes public thanks to the merger with Tiga Acquisition Corp, a hollow company, but with money, that was looking for a purchase.
Tiga is what is known in the market as a
spac (special purpose acquisition company,
or company with the special purpose of making an acquisition).
These companies go to market and are listed on the Stock Exchange as a kind of check in search of a destination.
When they find a company to buy, the fact that they are already listed makes it easy.
Grindr has been approached by half a dozen such firms, its chief financial officer, Gary Hsueh, told Bloomberg.
Tiga has informed the Washington-based supervisor that the valuation of the merged company will be around 2,100 million dollars (about 2,000 million euros).
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year.
The current shareholders of Grindr will have 78% of the capital of the resulting company.
The company has taken the opportunity to present its figures to potential investors.
Grindr had 10.8 million monthly active users in 2021. It closed the year with 723,000 paying users, 31.5% more than a year earlier.
80% of those who use their dating app are under the age of 35.
Its users spend around twice as much time online as those on Facebook or Twitter, according to the company.
The company had revenue of $142 million last year, with an adjusted gross operating margin of 53% of that revenue, according to an analyst filing prepared by the company and filed with the SEC.
According to the company, it is a very profitable business with great growth opportunities.
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