MIC - Grindr was first introduced to the queer community in 2009 by a gay tech entrepreneur named Joel Simkhai, whose original intentions were to connect queer people with similar interests. Simkhai recognized that people would view Grindr as nothing more than a hookup app, but he had much higher hopes for it from the start. But the app's "only-for-hookups" stigma has stuck around and Grindr has been trying to shake it off ever since. It apparently didn't help when Simkhai sold the app to a Chinese Kunlun Tech in 2016. The new president, Scott Chen, viewed Grindr as a hookup app and simply focused on increasing the number of daily users rather than trying to improve it. One former employee said that for Chen, "anything that detracted from encouraging hookups was seen as a distraction." In March of 2020, Grindr was sold once again, this time to San Vicente Acquisition. The company has since pivoted back toward what Chen tried to move away from - including the relaunch of their digital publication, "INTO". Grindr users tapped into the app's unofficial housing market during the pandemic. Some people also use Grindr to further their careers.
by Moises Mendez
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