Grindr Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2023 Revenue Growth of 32%, Raises Guidance

Grindr Inc. (NYSE: GRND), the world’s largest social network for the LGBTQ community, today posted its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 in a Letter to Shareholders. The Letter to Shareholders can be accessed on Grindr’s Investor Relations website.

“We continue to make progress on our strategic priorities, as demonstrated by our strong financial performance and incredible user engagement through the first half of the year,” said George Arison, Chief Executive Officer of Grindr. “Our recently-launched weekly subscription offering was met with high demand and contributed to a great top-line result for the quarter. In addition to improving monetization, we added new features to the core app and continued serving our community throughout the second quarter. Due to the strength of our results in the first half of 2023, we are raising our full-year outlook to 28% or greater revenue growth and 41% or greater EBITDA margin, up from 25% and 38%, respectively.”

Earnings Webcast Information

Grindr will host a live webcast tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss the Company’s second quarter financial results. The webcast of the conference call can be accessed as follows:

Event: Grindr Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call

Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Time: 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time)

Live Webcast Site: https://investors.grindr.com/

An archived webcast of the conference call will also be accessible on Grindr’s Investor Relations page, https://investors.grindr.com/.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding Grindr’s current views with respect to our industry, operations and future business plans and performance. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “seeks,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will” or “should” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements about our growth opportunities, expectations regarding new product launches and their expected effect on full year 2023 guidance, including the expected continued success of Weeklies, our 2023 strategic priorities, our plan to generate sustainable double-digit revenue growth and strong profitability and our full year 2023 guidance. Forward-looking statements, including guidance related to revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margin, are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) our reliance on historical data, which may be of limited reliability, in providing revenue guidance; (ii) the impact of the regulatory environment and complexities with compliance related to such environment; (iii) our ability to respond to general economic conditions; (iv) factors relating to the business, operations and financial performance of Grindr and our subsidiaries, including: (a) competition in the dating and social networking products and services industry; (b) the ability to maintain and attract users; and (c) fluctuation in quarterly and yearly results; (v) natural disasters, outbreaks and pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic; (vi) our ability to adapt to changes in technology and user preferences in a timely and cost-effective manner; (vii) our ability to maintain compliance with privacy and data protection laws and regulations; (viii) our ability to protect systems and infrastructures from cyber-attacks and prevent unauthorized data access; (ix) our dependence on the integrity of third-party systems and infrastructure; and (x) our ability to protect our intellectual property rights from unauthorized use by third parties. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Further information on these and additional risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those included in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are included under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by Grindr with the SEC on March 17, 2023 as well as other filings that we make with the SEC from time to time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and the Company assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

About Non-GAAP

Grindr uses Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin, which are non-GAAP measures, to understand and evaluate our core operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures, which may differ from similarly titled measures used by other companies, are presented to enhance investors’ overall understanding of Grindr’s financial performance and should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. Grindr defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) excluding income tax (benefit) provision, interest expense, net of interest income from the related party loan to Catapult GP II, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense and non-core expenses/losses (gains). Non-core expenses/losses (gains) include transaction-related costs, litigation-related costs, management fees, change in fair value of warrant liability and other expense, which includes asset impairments. Adjusted EBITDA Margin represents Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue. Grindr’s management uses Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin internally to evaluate the performance of our business and this measure is one of the primary metrics by which our internal budgets are based and by which management is compensated. Grindr believes Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are also helpful to investors, analysts, and other interested parties because they can assist in providing a more consistent and comparable overview of our operations across our historical financial periods. Grindr excludes the above items as some are non-cash in nature, and others are non-recurring that they may not be representative of normal operating results. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin adjust for the impact of items that Grindr does not consider indicative of the operational performance of our business. While Grindr believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating our business, this information should be considered as supplemental in nature and is not meant as a substitute for the related financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP.

	Three Months Ended June 30,								Six Months Ended June 30,
($ in thousands)		2023				2022				2023				2022
Reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA
Net income (loss)	$	22,331			$	(4,302	)		$	(10,568	)		$	199
Interest expense, net		12,917				3,256				23,710				6,212
Income tax (benefit) provision		(14,051	)			(1,000	)			1,452				253
Depreciation and amortization		8,140				9,092				16,092				18,118
Transaction-related costs (1)		—				866				—				1,178
Litigation related costs (2)		288				54				1,499				1,082
Stock-based compensation expense		3,604				12,933				6,946				13,667
Management fees (3)		—				184				—				363
Change in fair value of warrant liability (4)		(7,098	)			—				8,219				—
Other expense (5)		752				379				1,533				551
Adjusted EBITDA	$	26,883			$	21,462			$	48,883			$	41,623
Revenue	$	61,538			$	46,555			$	117,347			$	90,085
Adjusted EBITDA Margin		43.7	%			46.1	%			41.7	%			46.2	%

_________________
(1)		Transaction-related costs consist of legal, tax, accounting, consulting, and other professional fees related to the Business Combination and other potential acquisitions, that are non-recurring in nature.
(2)		Litigation related costs primarily represent external legal fees associated with the outstanding litigation or regulatory matters such as the potential Datatilsynet fine or the CFIUS review of the Business Combination, which are unrelated to Grindr’s core ongoing business operations.
(3)		Management fees represent administrative costs associated with San Vicente Holdings LLC's ("SVE") administrative role in managing financial relationships and providing directive on strategic and operational decisions, which ceased to continue after the Business Combination.
(4)		Change in fair value of warrant liability relates to our warrants that were remeasured as of June 30, 2023.
(5)		Other expense primarily represents costs incurred from reorganization events that are unrelated to Grindr's core ongoing business operations, including severance and employment related costs.

About Grindr Inc.

With roughly 13 million monthly active users in virtually every country in the world, Grindr has grown to become a fundamental part of the queer community since its launch in 2009. The company continues to expand its ecosystem to enable gay, bi, trans and queer people to connect, express themselves, and discover the world around them. Grindr is headquartered in West Hollywood, California. The Grindr app is available on the App Store and Google Play.

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The Grindr Stock at the time of publication of the news with a fall of -0,64 % to 4,69USD on NYSE stock exchange (14. August 2023, 23:05 Uhr).