It’s a match: Grindr swipes right on going public with £1.7bn SPAC deal
Dating app Grindr has agreed to go public in a $2.1bn (£1.7bn) SPAC deal with Tiga Acquisition, just a week after reports that the gay-friendly platform shared the movements of millions of users with a digital advertising network.
With an estimated 10.8 million monthly active users in 2021 for Grindr, the business combination is set to raise an estimated $384m including $284m of Tiga’s cash in trust, plus up to $100m in a forward purchase agreement.
Discussing the upcoming New York float, Chief Executive Officer of Grindr Jeff Bonforte said: “Grindr is well positioned to be a public company and will continue to expand the ways it serves the LGBTQ+ community, from products, services to the philanthropic and advocacy work done through Grindr 4 Equality.”
Despite being approached with a number of SPAC offers in recent years, Chief Financial Officer Gary Hsueh said in an interview with Bloomberg: “From our perspective, we’re ready to be a public company”. A SPAC “made more sense [than a traditional IPO] because it had certainty and that’s even more important today than it was a year ago when the market was different”, he said.
Nonetheless, the Wall Street Journal revealed last week that Grindr user information had been made available for sale since at least 2017, and historical data may still be obtainable, according to sources close to the company.
Female-focused dating app Bumble floated on the New York stock market last year, valued at $8.2bn. Whilst it had a momentous debut, shares have fallen over 40 per cent in the year to date.