Grindr Inc

Our Company

We are the world’s largest social network and dating app focused on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer ("LGBTQ") communities, primarily serving gay and bisexual men in over 190 countries and territories around the world, with 13.3 million Average MAUs and 937 thousand Average Paying Users in 2023. Our Average Paying Users were over 937 thousand and 788 thousand for the years ending December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. We enable all of our users to find and engage with one another, share content and experiences, and generally express their unique selves. As a "Gayborhood" on our users mobile devices, our platform is a meaningful part of our users’ lives and has embedded us at the center of their communities, as they seek relationships of various forms, whether intimate, romantic, or social.

As a company built by gay people for gay people, Grindr fulfills crucial needs for its users. While the broader global landscape of social networks is highly competitive with many different platforms, there are few global platforms that focus solely on the LGBTQ community and address their unique needs. Our platform enables the LGBTQ community to connect with each other and the world. Our users have a range of motivations and use cases. Our platform helps our users find what they are looking for: casual dating, long-term relationships, community and friendships, professional networking, travel information and local discovery. By facilitating the connection of our users around the world, we believe we can help our community find one another, advance LGBTQ rights globally, and make the world a safer place for our community.

The Grindr platform has become an integral part of the daily lives of our millions of users around the world, enabling them to discover and connect with each other effortlessly anytime. The Grindr platform offers a variety of location-based social features and functions, including identity expression (profile, photos, presence); connection (search, filters, the Cascade, Viewed Me); and interaction (chat, media sharing); with trust and safety tools across the experience, and subscriptions for premium features offering further access and control. Since our inception, we have continued to innovate our technologies to improve the Grindr platform, adding new features and safety elements, which has allowed us to increase engagement of our monthly active users ("MAUs"). The Grindr platform has benefited from first mover advantage globally, resulting in MAUs in over 190 countries and territories.

We have attracted a highly engaged and rapidly growing user base, as evidenced by the following:

•13.3 million Average MAUs in 2023. Increased by 8.3% in 2023, as compared to 2022.

•937 thousand Average Paying Users in 2023. Increased by 18.9% in 2023, as compared to 2022.

•MAUs in over 190 countries and territories in the world as of December 31, 2023.

•21 supported languages on our platform as of December 31, 2023.

•On average, users on our platform sent over 332.2 million daily messages in 2023.

Our target market is the worldwide LGBTQ community. Our largest markets are currently North America and Europe, from which we derived 85.1% of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023.

We believe we have significant opportunities to leverage our unique brand to both broaden and deepen our market penetration and offer products and services that address the growing and specific needs of our community. The Grindr platform offers a combination of social networking functions and digital content, and we have continued to expand our platform and impact in the following ways:

•We help people find meaningful connections, whether it’s casual dating, relationships and love, community and friendships, travel information, local and discovery.

•Our platform builds community and friendships. Our user experience is essentially a world without walls, connecting one user to the next, allowing the community to see one another.

•We strive to make a world where the lives of our global community are free, safe, equal and just.

•Grindr for Equality (“G4E”) is a core initiative at Grindr dedicated to accelerating a world where LGBTQ people in every country are equal before the law, are free to marry, and have their unique health needs met. In partnership with public health authorities and LGBTQ non-governmental organizations, Grindr for Equality harnesses the power of the Grindr platform and provides funding to advance key health and human rights priorities for our community.

•We further support the LGBTQ community through donations to national and local pride organizations, and voting campaigns.

•We drive social influence in fun and engaging ways on our social media channels and our blog to help the general population better understand our community, plight, and interconnectedness.

We currently generate revenue from two revenue streams—Direct Revenue and Indirect Revenue, each as described below, and both of which are driven by the Grindr platform. “Direct Revenue” is revenue generated by our users who pay for subscriptions or add-ons to access premium features. While our app is free to use, our premium features enable our users to customize their ability to experience and use our platform. “Indirect Revenue” is generated by third parties who pay to advertise to our users.

The Business Combination

Grindr’s predecessor public company was originally incorporated in the Cayman Islands under the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands on July 27, 2020, under the name Tiga Acquisition Corp. (“Tiga”), as a special-purpose acquisition company for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or engaging in any other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Grindr was originally incorporated in February 2009 as a California limited liability company, and was subsequently held by Grindr Group LLC (“Legacy Grindr”), a Delaware limited liability company which was incorporated in April 2020.

Between November 17, 2022 and November 18, 2022, Legacy Grindr, Tiga, Tiga Merger Sub I LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and direct and wholly-owned subsidiary of Tiga (“Tiga Merger Sub”), and Tiga Merger Sub II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and direct and wholly-owned subsidiary of Tiga (“Tiga Merger Sub II”), consummated the transactions contemplated by that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of May 9, 2022 (the “Original Merger Agreement”), by and among Tiga, Legacy Grindr, and Tiga Merger Sub, as amended by that certain First Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of October 5, 2022, by and among Tiga, Tiga Merger Sub, Legacy Grindr and Tiga Merger Sub II (together with the Original Merger Agreement, the “Merger Agreement”), following its approval at an extraordinary general meeting of the stockholders of Tiga held on November 15, 2022. Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, a business combination of Legacy Grindr and Tiga was effected through, among other transactions, (i) the merger of Tiga Merger Sub I with and into Legacy Grindr, with Legacy Grindr as the surviving entity (the “First Merger”), and promptly thereafter and as part of the same overall transaction as the First Merger, (ii) the merger of Legacy Grindr with and into Tiga Merger Sub II (the “Second Merger”), with Tiga Merger Sub II surviving the Second Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tiga. Prior to the closing of the business combination on November 18, 2022 (“Closing”), Tiga (i) changed its jurisdiction of incorporation from Cayman Islands to the State of Delaware by deregistering as an exempted company in the Cayman Islands and domesticating and continuing as a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware and (ii) changed its name from Tiga Acquisition Corp. to Grindr Inc. (the “Business Combination”).

Unless the context indicates otherwise, references in this Annual Report to Form 10-K to the “Company,” “Grindr,” “we,” “us,” “our,” and similar terms refer to Grindr, Inc. (f/k/a Tiga Acquisition Corp.) and its consolidated subsidiaries (including Legacy Grindr). References to “Tiga” refer to the predecessor company prior to Closing.

Market Overview

The global LGBTQ population has seen consistent growth in recent years, reflecting both rising populations and the rising social acceptance of the LGBTQ community, as well as individuals’ growing confidence in openly expressing their sexual orientation and gender identity. We expect these trends to further increase the number of individuals who identify as LGBTQ.

We believe our global addressable market encompasses the entire LGBTQ population and not just LGBTQ singles, as our users use our platform and services for more than just casual dating and relationships. Our user base represents a highly desirable demographic for marketers and advertisers, given its substantial purchasing power and economic potential. The LGBTQ community's significant purchasing power, combined with our platform's broad appeal to more recent generations, has prompted marketers to focus increasingly on engaging with this community.

Social developments and rapidly changing perspectives brought on by the growth of the internet have caused more recent generations to be exposed to more a broader range of ideas, including in the areas of gender awareness and sexual orientation, earlier than previous generations Contemporary generations are more gender fluid, with the definition of gender identity becoming more indistinct, blurring the boundary between the LGBTQ community and the heterosexual population. These more recent generations are more likely to explore their sexuality in light of greater social acceptability of alternative sexual identities and the ability to express different sexual identities.

Our Products and Services

Our flagship product, the Grindr platform, is a mobile application and also available on the web, with location-based connectivity features designed to help our users find one another and have meaningful interactions right here and now, or anywhere globally. Our mobile application is free to use, with premium subscription offerings available for users preferring greater access to other users and more control over their experience.

Key features of our Grindr platform include:

•Identity expression: users can create, manage, and control their identity, profile, and presence on the platform.

•Connection: users can find and be found by those they are interested in; those nearby right now, or anywhere globally.

•Interaction: users can chat and interact with any profile instantly, in an open, fun, and engaging way.

•Trust and Safety: users receive guidance and tools to be safe across their platform experience.

The free version of our service provides many of the features above on a limited basis for a valuable initial experience. Users can subscribe for premium features and services, giving them greater access to more profiles, and additional control over the experience of finding others and forming meaningful connections.

Advancing LGBTQ Health and Human Rights Globally—Grindr for Equality ("G4E")

Launched in 2012, Grindr for Equality is a core Grindr initiative dedicated to accelerating a world where LGBTQ people in every country are equal before the law, free to marry, and have their unique health needs met. In partnership with the Company's product and customer experience teams, public health authorities, and LGBTQ non-governmental organizations, Grindr for Equality harnesses the power of the Grindr platform and provides funding to advance key health and human rights goals for our community. Key priorities include expanding HIV testing and effective health education, ending criminalization and police persecution in the 64 countries where it is still illegal to be LGBTQ, and achieving marriage equality in the over 150 countries where Grindr users do not have the freedom to marry.

In 2023, Grindr for Equality expanded an innovative strategy to fight the HIV epidemic by enabling Grindr users in the U.S. and a growing number of additional countries to order free HIV self-test kits by connecting them directly to our self-testing partner organizations through the app. This program resulted in the distribution of more than 235,000 kits, many of which were sent to Grindr users who reported they had never previously tested for HIV. Grindr for Equality was also proud to support four marriage equality campaigns, three decriminalization campaigns, and more than 150 LGBTQ organizations around the world.

Our Competitive Advantages

We believe certain advantages will continue to provide us with sustainable differentiation and success relative to our competitors:

•The Largest Global LGBTQ-Focused Mobile Social Platform. We were established in 2009 as one of the first global social platforms exclusively addressing the needs of our community and are the most widely used social platform dedicated to serving the LGBTQ community.

•Highly Engaged User Base. Our users are highly engaged, averaging a significant amount of time interacting with other users on our platform.

•Preeminent Brand Within the LGBTQ Community. Our brand is one of the most well-known in the LGBTQ community and has become broadly associated with LGBTQ culture.

•Organic MAU Growth. We have benefited from a substantial first mover advantage and reached a scale that continues to propel the viral growth of our business, brand awareness, and user acquisition.

•Superior User Experience. Our geolocation technology, grid display interface, complex filter functions, and other innovative features and functionalities enable users to discover and connect to each other effortlessly and seamlessly.

•Strong Margins and Profitable Business Model. Our business generates strong margins and positive cash flows given our revenue model and negligible paid user acquisition spend.

Our Growth Strategies

We believe there is significant growth opportunity in our core product driven in part by the rising acceptance and growth of the global LGBTQ population, especially among recent generations that are more technology savvy.

Key elements of our growth strategy include:

•Expand Monetization Capabilities. We believe we can improve the monetization of our platform by continuing to optimize and develop our subscription offerings, introducing more stand-alone premium functions, and further optimizing our indirect revenue offerings, as described in more detail below:

•Continue to optimize our core product and develop our subscription offerings by evolving with our users to define use cases that are compelling for users to pay for. We also expect to continue to optimize our paywall and subscription plans and pricing globally.

•We intend to grow our indirect business by leveraging our advertising offerings, advertising partnerships, brand sales team, and self-serve advertising system.

•Grow Our User Base. We plan to deepen our penetration in our current markets, including in our key established markets such as the United States and Europe. We also plan to grow our user base by targeting geographic regions that have a large number of untapped potential users and fast-growing economies.

•Invest in Understanding our User Journey. We will continue to invest in data to improve our product-market fit, attract new users, protect our users, and fight abuse and spam on our platform. We believe our efforts in machine learning and data science will help our users have more successful connections and improve the overall experience on our platform.

•Strategic Investments and Acquisitions. In addition to organic growth, we are open to opportunistic strategic investments and acquisitions in some markets.

Technology

Our technology and product development process is designed for the unique needs of our user base. We aim to build technology that protects our users and enables them to make connections safely.

Key components of our technology platform include:

•Location Based Technologies. We have built a large-scale location search system to connect our online users’ locations in real-time so they can seamlessly engage with their hyper-local community. The system powers the main cascade user interface in our Grindr platform where a user sees others who are also using the Grindr platform at that moment based on distance and filter criteria.

•Data Management, Protection, and Privacy. We have built our own data warehouse infrastructure on top of third-party platforms to support the volume of interactions that happen on the Grindr platform. We have devised procedures and controls designed to protect the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our data. The level of controls is based upon a data matrix that takes into account the sensitivity and criticality of the data. As part of our controls, we utilize one-way hashing, and both symmetric and asymmetric encryption for data at rest and in transit.

Our platform has a suite of safety features and we publish a holistic security guide and safety tips for users. Our suite of tools and technology utilize a three-pillar approach to content moderation:

•Automated Review. We implement preventative technologies to help mitigate risks of user misbehavior. Upon profile creation, we automatically scan profiles and conduct ongoing scans for fraudulent behavior or violations of our Community Guidelines. Our algorithms and automations remove many malicious profiles before they can interact with our community. We utilize third party tooling to enhance our automated review capabilities. In addition, we provide users with a robust appeals system that leverages a manual human review of automated decisions.

•Manual Review. Our experienced human reviewers play an integral role in our moderation process. We utilize a team of content review personnel dedicated to moderating content on the Grindr platform.

•Community Feedback. Through in-app tools, we encourage users to report inappropriate content and misbehavior.

Branding and Marketing

We have expanded our user base primarily through user-driven organic growth, anchored in the combination of our strong brand and an extensive global user base. Online initiatives of our branding and marketing strategy include attracting new users and generating brand awareness through content marketing and social media initiatives, influencer marketing campaigns, and video and brand partnerships.

Employees and Human Capital Resources

We compete for talent within the technology industry. Our company culture emphasizes results, transparency, collaboration, experimentation, a bias for action, and creating an environment in which everyone can bring their full and best selves to work. We believe that many people want to work at a company committed to creating a world that is fair, equal, and just for the global LGBTQ community and that aligns with their personal values, and therefore our ability to recruit and retain talent is aided by our mission and brand reputation. We demonstrate our commitment to our community in part by aligning our employee benefits and supports to meet the unique needs of our LGBTQ employees and their dependents.

As of December 31, 2023, we had 112 employees globally, 100 of which were full-time employees. Approximately 39% of our employees work in engineering and product development. We are headquartered in West Hollywood, California, and have additional offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, and New York City.

In 2023, we adopted a hybrid working model involving a multi-phase return-to-office plan (the “RTO Plan”). The RTO Plan provided employees with a one-time relocation package to support relocation to offices where their respective teams are based, or separation packages for employees who choose not to relocate or participate in the RTO Plan.

Intellectual Property

We have developed our proprietary intellectual property over the past fifteen years. Our patents, trademarks, copyrights, domain names, trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights distinguish our products and services from those of our competitors and contribute to our competitive advantage in the markets in which we operate. To protect our intellectual property, we rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws; confidentiality agreements; non-compete agreements; assignment-for-inventions agreements with our employees, contractors, and others, and contracts with third parties. We also regularly monitor any infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property rights.

We rely upon a combination of proprietary trademarks, trademark applications, copyright registrations, patents, and patent applications relating to our brands, content, inventions, and other intellectual property. Our patents have expiration dates in 2031. We apply for additional trademarks and patents to the extent we determine it to be core to our service or businesses or otherwise appropriate and cost-effective.

We license technology and other intellectual property from our partners and rely on our license agreements with those partners to use the intellectual property. Third parties may assert claims related to intellectual property rights against our partners and us.

Government Regulation

We are subject to a number of U.S. federal and state laws and regulations, as well as foreign ones that involve matters that are important to, or may otherwise impact, our business and that may affect companies conducting business on the internet, including, but not limited to, regulations related to internet and eCommerce, labor and employment, anti-discrimination, payments, whistleblowing and worker confidentiality obligations, product liability, intellectual property, consumer protection and warnings, user safety, marketing, taxation, privacy, data security, competition, arbitration agreements and class action waiver provisions, terms of service, and mobile application and website accessibility. These regulations are often complex and subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their newness and lack of specificity, and as a result, their application in practice may change or develop over time through judicial decisions or as new guidance or interpretations are provided by regulatory and governing bodies in the United States and abroad, such as federal, state, and local administrative agencies. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change or uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, declines in user growth or engagement, negative publicity, or other harm to our business. See the section titled “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation—Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and international laws and regulations. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change or uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, declines in user growth or engagement, negative publicity, or other harm to our business.” As a result, we could be subject to actions based on negligence, various torts, and trademark and copyright infringement, among other actions. See the sections titled “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation—We may be held liable for information or content displayed on, retrieved from, or transmitted over our platform, as well as interactions that result from the use of our platform.,” “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation—The varying and rapidly evolving regulatory framework on privacy and data protection, including across jurisdictions and other obligations, could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.,” “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation —Activities of our users or content made available by such users could subject us to liability, including with respect to user safety.,” “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation—Online applications are subject to various laws and regulations relating to children’s privacy and protection, which, if violated, could subject us to an increased risk of litigation and regulatory actions,” and “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Information Technology Systems and Intellectual Property—From time to time, we are party to intellectual property-related litigations and proceedings that are expensive and time consuming to defend, and, if resolved adversely, could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.”

In the ordinary course of our business, we process a significant volume of personal data, including sensitive information from our users, employees, and others. Accordingly, we are, or may become, subject to numerous privacy and data protection obligations, including federal, state, local, and foreign laws; regulations; guidance; and industry standards related to privacy and data protection. Such obligations may include, without limitation, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (collectively the “CCPA”), the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR”), the GDPR as it forms part of United Kingdom (“UK”) law by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“UK GDPR”), and the ePrivacy Directive. In addition, several states within the United States have enacted or proposed data privacy laws. For example, Virginia passed the Consumer Data Protection Act, Colorado passed the Colorado Privacy Act, and Utah passed the Utah Consumer Privacy Act.

The CCPA, other U.S. state privacy laws, GDPR and UK GDPR are examples of the increasingly stringent and evolving regulatory frameworks related to personal data processing that may increase our compliance obligations and exposure for any noncompliance. In the past few years, numerous U.S. states—including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah—have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that impose certain obligations on covered businesses, including providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording residents with certain rights concerning their personal data. As applicable, such rights may include the right to access, correct, or delete certain personal data; and to opt-out of certain data processing activities, such as targeted advertising, profiling, and automated decision-making. The exercise of these rights may impact our business and ability to provide our products and services. These state laws also allow for statutory fines for noncompliance. For example, the CCPA applies to personal data of consumers, business representatives, and employees who are California residents, and requires businesses to provide specific disclosures in privacy notices and honor requests of California residents to exercise certain privacy rights. The CCPA provides for fines of up to $7,500 per intentional violation and allows private litigants affected by certain data breaches to seek to recover potentially significant statutory damages.

Additionally, foreign data privacy and security laws (including the GDPR and UK GDPR) impose significant and complex compliance obligations on entities that are subject to those laws. As one example, the GDPR limits personal data processing to only what is necessary for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes; increases transparency obligations to data subjects; limits the collection and retention of personal data; increases rights for data subjects; requires the implementation and maintenance of technical and organizational safeguards for personal data; and mandates notice of certain personal data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority(ies) and affected individuals. There are numerous proposed laws pending around the world concerning privacy and data protection that could affect us if enacted. See the section titled “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation—The varying and rapidly evolving regulatory framework on privacy and data protection, including across jurisdictions and other obligations, could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.”

Any improper disclosure of data, particularly our customers’ sensitive personal data or other sensitive information, could negatively impact our business and/or our reputation. See the sections titled “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to our Business—Security breaches, unauthorized access to or disclosure of our data or user data, other hacking and phishing attacks on our systems or those of third parties upon which we rely, or other data security incidents could compromise sensitive information related to our business or users processed by us or on our behalf and expose us to liability, which could harm our reputation, generate negative publicity, and materially and adversely affect our business.”

Available Information

Our website address iswww.grindr.com. We make available on our website, free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding our filings atwww.sec.gov. The information found on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or any other report we file with or furnish to the SEC.