Grindr Reports 35% Revenue Growth in Q1 Results

LGBTQ+ dating & social platform Grindr has shared its financial results for Q1 2024, highlighting a 35% year-over-year increase in revenue. The company discussed why it was seeing positive results and the new product features it is rolling out this year.

In a recent Letter to Shareholders, Grindr shared its Q1 financial results for the first quarter of 2024. A few key metrics stand out:

• 35% year-over-year revenue growth, rising from $56 million in Q1 2023 to $75 million in Q1 2024.
• Average monthly users increased by 7% year-over-year, rising to 13.7 million.
• Average paying users increased 17% year-over-year, rising to 1 million.
• A 15% increase in Average Direct Revenue per Paying User, rising to $21.25.

How was this achieved? “Our first quarter financial results were outstanding and primarily driven by the continued strong performance of our XTRA Weekly subscription offering”, the company explained.

The XTRA Weekly plan, which was introduced in May 2024, grants users with premium features including zero third-party ads, the ability to view up to 600 profiles in the platform’s grid, global chat options, read receipts, 5 expiring photos per day, and Premium Album features.

An upgraded chat system

Among its new product developments of late, the Letter to Shareholders highlights Grindr’s new chat system, which was rolled out across the globe at the end of Q1. This endeavour “represents our most complex technical launch in nearly a decade”, the company shared. Grindr saw more than 121 billion chats sent during the course of 2023.

The new system stores user messages on the cloud, whereas the previous system stored this data on the user’s mobile devices, meaning chats could be lost when changing phones. This move to the cloud also enables secure encryption of these messages.

The new feature: ‘Right Now’

A new feature, called ‘Right Now’, is currently being tested by the platform. The tool will help users find new connections immediately, and was developed following “strong user demand”.

Not only does this make the platform more efficient, but it “adds a further monetizable dimension to our product”, it shared. Right Now’s features are currently in testing and further updates are expected later this year and early next year.

Fostering international connections with Roam

Further along in its product development is the new feature: ‘Roam’. Announced earlier this year at Web Summit event in Rio de Janeiro, the feature allows users to move their profile to a different region temporarily. 

This allows keen travellers to integrate into the area ahead of time, with the ability to chat to locals, share their plans, and learn about local offerings. This feature is expected to be rolled out globally later this year.

Hiring and growth

To turn these product developments into realities, Grindr highlighted that it has been expanding its team. While it is still operating with less staff members than early 2023 numbers, the team has grown to 129 employees globally.

George Arison, CEO of Grindr, shared that “we’ve increased our engineering headcount by more than 50% quarter-over-quarter in Q1, adding key skills to our product development team. Overall, our growing team is energized and focused, and this has contributed to our strong financial performance”.

Read Grindr’s full Letter to Shareholders and Q1 financial results here.