Gay app GRINDR Valued At $240M After Purchase By Chinese Firm

The gay app GRINDR is now valued at nearly a quarter billion dollars following the sale of the gay-owned and operated company to a Chinese-based firm named Beijing Kunlun Tech. Joel Simkhai created the app in 2009 and says he will remain as CEO despite selling the remaining 38% of the company to Kunlun for $152 million dollars this week.

The takeover comes at a time when China, the world’s most populous nation but lagging the West in achieving equal legal status for its homosexual citizens, is cultivating a lucrative industry catering to the social needs of the gay community. 

Grindr, founded in 2009 in the United States, is the world’s largest LGBT social-network application, counting over 27 million registered users across 196 countries and territories across the world. 

The Chinese company expected to bank on Grindr as a new growth engine, as the eight-year-old app proved to be a cash cow that had posted US$13.7 million in net profit for 2014, thanks to its rapidly growing membership.

Hat/tip to Queerty