Grindr LLC, the dating app that specializes in connections for the LGBTQ+ community, has named George Arison its new chief executive officer, fulfilling a pledge to appoint someone who identifies with that group to lead the company as it prepares to go public.
(Bloomberg) — Grindr LLC, the dating app that specializes in connections for the LGBTQ+ community, has named George Arison its new chief executive officer, fulfilling a pledge to appoint someone who identifies with that group to lead the company as it prepares to go public.
Arison, 44, is the co-founder and former CEO of auto e-commerce marketplace Shift Technologies Inc. He will start at Grindr on Oct. 19 and shepherd the company through the process of listing on the stock market through a special purpose acquisition company later this fall.
Grindr also named Vanna Krantz as its new chief financial officer. Krantz is the current CFO of transportation and payments company Passport Labs Inc., and she previously served in that role at Disney Streaming Services. Krantz will begin at Grindr Sept. 26. The appointments are part of a previously announced transition that will see current CEO Jeff Bonforte and CFO Gary Hsueh step down and move into advisory roles with the company.
“All of us on the small team that acquired Grindr in June 2020 understood that it had the potential to be an amazing business, wholly focused on serving the LGBTQ+ community,” Bonforte said in a statement. “Key to the plan was finding long term leadership for the business that had not only deep professional experience, but also the life experience to understand the unique and very real challenges facing the global LGBTQ+ community.”
Rivals like Match Group Inc. app Tinder and Bumble Inc. are LGBTQ+ friendly, but Grindr is the biggest and most well-known app within the community. It has more than 11 million active users, with almost 80% of them under 35. The company agreed to go public via a SPAC in May at a $2.1 billion valuation despite unfavorable market conditions among technology stocks and blank-check companies. The deal will see Grindr merge with blank-check firm Tiga Acquisition Corp. Arison also helped Shift go public via a SPAC in 2020.
Earlier this year, Arison was planning to take some rest time to rest and think about starting another company after leaving Shift. He didn’t think he would be taking another CEO job after running Shift for nine years. But he changed his mind.
“The mission at Grindr is so powerful for the sets of people I’ve been a part of and I’ve seen the power of that from the friendships I’ve built with people I’ve met” on the platform, Arison said in an interview.
Arison said his previous experience taking a private company public taught him about the importance of being clear and realistic about setting goals and financial projections. “We’ll approach that differently because from the beginning it’s going to be really crucial, and having those financial forecasting capabilities is really important,” he said.
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