Grindr wants to become an 'everything app' for gay men, but investors remain unconvinced
CEO George Arison says Grindr, which has nearly tripled revenue since 2022, is pushing beyond dating into healthcare and travel services. Yet part of Wall Street still applies what one investor called a 'Grindr discount' to the stock.
Since George Arison took over as CEO of Grindr in 2022, the company — previously bounced between Chinese ownership and a forced private-equity rescue — has turned into a notable growth story. Revenue is on track to exceed $540 million this year, up from $195 million in 2022, while adjusted EBITDA margins remain above 40%. Most of that growth has come from getting existing users to spend more rather than from rapid user growth: in the second quarter, Grindr had 1.4 million paying users, or 9% of its total user base.
Expansion plans
Arison wants to turn Grindr into what he calls a 'gayborhood in your pocket' — a platform that goes beyond dating and hookups to include healthcare, such as ED medication and HIV prevention, with a longer-term goal of connecting users to gay doctors, as well as travel features that help users find community wherever they are. Another major move is a pricier, AI-driven subscription tier called EDGE, expected to launch later this year or in early 2027. Test pricing for the tier drew online mockery, but Arison says the company isn't selling AI itself, just better matching based on user behavior.
Investor skepticism
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Raymond James have all raised their price targets on Grindr this year, and the stock has climbed roughly a third over the past six months. Even so, the stock trades at about 11 times projected 2027 EBITDA, a roughly 35% discount to peers. Arison says some investors, and even a consulting firm and a bank in the past, have avoided working with Grindr specifically because it is a gay dating app. Subscriptions still make up about 83% of Grindr's revenue, while healthcare and travel remain small parts of the business for now.
