Grindr to go public through in $2.1 billion SPAC deal

Gay dating app Grindr announced on Monday it has agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check acquisition firm in a deal that values the combined company at $2.1 billion including debt.

Grindr is merging with Tiga Acquistion Corp. The merger deal will provide the dating app with an estimated $384 million ($284 million in cash and up to $100 million in a forward purchase agreement), which it will use to pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet. Grindr said its existing shareholders would own 78% of the company after the merger.

“From our perspective, we’re ready to be a public company,” Chief Financial Officer Gary Hsueh said in an interview. The route through a SPAC rather than a traditional IPO “made more sense because it had certainty and that’s even more important today than it was a year ago when the market was different.”

Grindr said in an investor presentation Monday that it has 11 million monthly active users and its revenue is up 30% over the past year.

Singapore-based special purpose acquisition company Tiga Acquisition Corp is controlled by Zage.

According to Reuters, the deal values Grindr at 27 times its adjusted 2021 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $77 million. By comparison, shares of dating app peers Match Group Inc and Bumble Inc are trading at 22 times and 25 times their 2021 EBITDA, respectively, according to Refinitiv.

Grindr’s SPAC deal is expected to close by the end of the year pending regulatory and stockholder approval.