Grindr, the popular dating and social networking app for gay men, has found itself a match.
The company on Monday said it had sold a majority stake to the Beijing Kunlun Tech Company, a Chinese gaming company, valuing the six-year-old start-up at $155 million. Beijing Kunlun will acquire 60 percent of Grindr, with the remainder to be owned by Grindr employees and Joel Simkhai, the company’s founder. Grindr has previously not raised capital from outside investors.
“We have users in every country in the world, but in order to get to the next phase of our business and grow faster, we needed a partner,” Carter McJunkin, chief operating officer of Grindr, said in an interview. Mr. McJunkin said the pairing made sense for Grindr because of Beijing Kunlun’s digital expertise, and its agreement to let Grindr’s founders continue its operating structure and retain its current team.
For Beijing Kunlun, Grindr offers a chance to expand beyond its core gaming assets and into other lifestyle categories, as well as markets outside China.
“We have been very impressed by Grindr’s progress to date and are extremely excited about the future of the company,” Yahui Zhou, chairman of Kunlun, said in a statement. “We will continue to seek out and invest in high-quality technology companies led by top-tier management across the globe.”
Founded in 2009 by Mr. Simkhai with a few thousand dollars of his own money, Grindr has grown to become a mainstay of the gay hookup and dating culture in 196 countries around the world. The mobile app lets users see photos of one another based on their location, and users can share photos and text messages with one another. Read more via New York Times
美国同志社交应用Grindr找到中国伙伴
受男同性恋欢迎的约会和社交应用Grindr给自己找到了一段姻缘。
该公司周一宣布，已将大部分股份出售给中国游戏公司北京昆仑万维科技股份有限公司。作为创业公司，Grindr已成立六年，此次交易对其估值为1.55亿美元。北京昆仑将获得60%的股份，公司其余股份将由Grindr员工和公司创始人乔尔·西姆卡伊(Joel Simkhai)持有。Grindr此前没有进行过外部融资。
“我们的用户遍布全球每一个国家，但为了让业务进入下一个阶段，实现更快的增长，我们需要一个合作伙伴，”Grindr首席运营官卡特·麦克琼金(Carter McJunkin)在接受采访时说。麦克琼金称，对Grindr来说，和北京昆仑搭档是合理的，因为后者拥有数字领域的专长，且同意让Grindr的创始人保留当前的运营结构和团队。
对北京昆仑而言，Grindr提供了一个机会，让他们可以扩展到核心的游戏资产以外，进入其他生活领域及国外市场。
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“我们对Grindr目前取得的成绩印象深刻，我们对它的未来充满期待，”昆仑董事长周亚辉说。“昆仑万维会继续在全球寻找目标，投资一些高质量、由顶尖管理层领导的高科技企业。”