Match Group invests $100 million in gay dating app Sniffies

Dating app conglomerate Match Group announced yesterday that it is investing $100 million in Sniffies, a gay cruising app that makes it “almost too easy to get laid as a gay man,” according to Mashable’s analysis.

The investment constitutes a minority stake in the company and includes the option to acquire remaining equity in the future, according to a press release shared with Mashable. Sniffies founder and CEO Blake Gallagher said on LinkedIn that the company would remain led by him and operated independently.

“The product, tone, and community will continue to be shaped by the people who use it,” Gallagher continued, saying the app can now evolve more quickly to make user-requested improvements while building it by being “anchored in real connection, with our community in mind.”

In the press release, Gallagher said that with Match Group’s support, the Sniffies team can improve the product and expand its network while investing in trust and security (a growing issue on dating apps) and giving users what they want.

Sniffies has approximately three million monthly active users worldwide, according to the press release, and 20 million messages sent daily. And Sniffies’ iOS app only launched last year, only to be removed from the App Store shortly after.

The investment comes about a year after Match Group acquired sapphic dating app HER, which received mixed reactions from users. The same goes for this announcement, with a Reddit thread asking “Are we cooked?” » and most comments responding in the affirmative. But it remains to be seen how Sniffies will evolve with this investment.