The Meet Group CEO Talks Growlr Advancement After Completed Takeover

The Meet Group CEO Geoff Cook and freelance consultant Phil Henricks have been discussing the recent acquisition of Growlr and how they plan to develop the app in the future with Gay Star News.

The dating umbrella had already revealed it is working to introduce its signature livestreaming model by the end of the year.

Henricks, a 15-year veteran of the LGBTQ dating industry and advisor to Growlr, explained that product updates would be informed by user wants. He conducted a survey of 5,000 Growlr users to find out what changes they would like to see.

The top responses were more photos, a visual update and an overall design refresh. Henricks promised that the results of the survey will help the team decide how to keep Growlr moving forward.

Gay Star News also asked Cook about his opinions on the US government ordering Kunlun Tech to sell Grindr over national security concerns.

He responded: “I’m not overly surprised simply because I’ve been following CFIUS (Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States) movement and in 2016, when Grindr was first purchased, the climate was a little bit different than it was today.

“I don’t look at the Grindr thing as a one-off. The CFIUS committee has been taking various actions, blocking deals either quietly or publicly for the last few years, and I would expect that to continue.”

Growlr is currently the third largest LGBTQ dating app in the US, with over 10 million members and 200,000 daily active users.

Eric Silverberg, the CEO of rival gay dating app Scruff, maintains that LGBTQ platforms shouldn’t be run by heterosexual owners. He reiterated this argument after the news of the acquisition broke.

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