Grindr sells controlling stake to Chinese tech billionaire Zhou Yahui for $93 million

The six-year old app said it would use the cash injection to accelerate its growth.

It currently has two million visitors a day across 196 countries.

Founder Joel Simkhai and other Grindr managers will hold on to the remaining 40% of the shares.

Simkhai said: “It will be generally business as usual for us here at Grindr, but with a renewed sense of purpose and additional resources.”

Zhou’s company, Beijing Kunlun Tech, has struck seven deals since last April including taking a minority stake in British mortgage lender LendInvest.

It was not immediately clear whether games developer Kunlun plans to take Grindr to China.

The app was founded in Los Angeles in 2009 and now operates in 196 countries. So far it has self-funded growth.

New owner Zhou is worth $1.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.