LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today at Web Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Grindr Inc. (NYSE:GRND), the premier LGBTQ+ social connector, celebrated its 15th anniversary by announcing a new corporate mission and launching a new core travel feature: Roam™.
A New, Community-Focused Mission For the Next 15 Years
Grindr’s new mission is to be the global Gayborhood in your pocket, and through its success, to make a world where the lives of its users and the global LGBTQ+ community are free, equal, and just.
For decades, the global LGBTQ+ community has physically connected in cities around the world, creating hubs, or Gayborhoods, for local gay, bi, trans, and queer people to freely express themselves, enjoy a sense of safety and intimacy, and foster community through spaces created specifically for them.
However, not everyone has access to a physical Gayborhood.
For years, Grindr users all over the world have made the app into a Gayborhood, engaging with others for recommendations, information, resources, and a sense of connection. With Grindr’s new mission statement and planned product expansion, the digital Gayborhood will truly come to life via features designed specifically for this use case.
Roam: The First Step To Building the Global Gayborhood In Your Pocket
The first feature launching as part of the Gayborhood is Roam™, designed to give users the ability to temporarily place their profile in a new location ahead of a trip, chatting with locals and forming connections before they travel. With Roam, Grindr is unlocking travel functionality and bringing global users one step closer to each other, transcending physical boundaries on the path to the digital Gayborhood.
The feature is currently in testing in several markets and will be launching broadly in Q3. Upon its launch, Grindr users will have the option to select a new location in which to place their profile for up to one hour, enabling them to connect and engage with local users before a trip. In a step beyond Grindr’s existing Explore function, which allows users to see other profiles in different geographies, Roam allows users to ‘visit’ a new geography to explore other profiles and be seen by and chat with local users.
“Grindr is the connective tissue for the gay community around the world, and as we set out to fulfill our new mission, I’m excited to provide digital access to the important relationships, resources, and information that exist in so many physical Gayborhoods,” said Grindr CEO George Arison. “With new features like Roam, we look forward to continuing to innovate the Grindr platform in order to meet the diverse needs of our users and drive a lasting impact for people everywhere.”
Looking ahead, Grindr will continue building and rolling out new features that bring the digital Gayborhood to its users. From those looking for casual encounters to those seeking longer-term relationships, Grindr’s planned product expansion will allow users with a range of interaction goals and intentions to navigate the queer world around them.
For more information on the Gayborhood and Roam, please visit our blog here.
About Grindr Inc.
With more than 13 million monthly active users in virtually every country in the world, Grindr has grown to become a fundamental part of the LGBTQ+ 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. Since 2015 Grindr for Equality has advanced health and human rights for millions of Grindr users and the global LGBTQ+ community in partnership with more than 150 LGBTQ+ organizations in every region of the world. Grindr is headquartered in West Hollywood, California, with offices in the Bay Area, Chicago, and New York. The Grindr app is available on the App Store and Google Play.