Dating App Grindr Set to Go Public Via SPAC

Gay dating app Grindr is going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) firm that would value the company at $2.1 billion, Reuters wrote Tuesday (May 10).

While Grindr didn’t disclose its existing shareholders, it said they’d own 78% of the company after the merger. Reuters had previously written that Tiga Investments CEO Raymond Zage had a 41% stake in the consortium that bought Grindr.

Grindr and Tiga think the deal might need clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which looks into deals for national security risks that might need addressing.

Kunlun, which used to own Grindr, divested it for $620 million due to national security concerns, with CFIUS saying there could be personal data concerns with U.S. users if China’s government had access to them. Reuters wrote that it wasn’t a sure thing that CFIUS was a part of Grindr’s decision to look into a sale and a merger with a SPAC.

However, Reuters did report last year that Kunlun and Grindr gave CFIUS some information about the transaction that went against potential investors and Chinese regulators.

At the time, the companies said James Lu, an ex-Baidu executive who became Grindr’s chairman, did not have a previous business relationship with an important Kunlun advisor, despite what some other filings had said.

In other news related to online dating, Tinder owner Match Group has sued Google in a final bid to stop its apps from being booted from the Play Store, which would cause Match to lose millions in sales.

Read more: Tinder Owner Sues Google Over Play Store Fees

Match might be cut out of the store because it had refused to share the 30% of sales Google requires. Match said Google has broken federal and state antitrust laws, as Google said it would block downloads of several apps unless they offer the tech giant’s pay system and revenue.

“This lawsuit is a measure of last resort,” Match Chief Executive Shar Dubey said. “We tried, in good faith, to resolve these concerns with Google, but their insistence and threats have left us no choice.”