Grindr CEO Bets on $350 AI Companion Tier as Premium Push Reaches 1.4M Paying Users

Grindr CEO George Arison is pushing premium AI services, including an EDGE tier that costs up to $350 per month in test markets, per an FT feature. The company averaged 1.4M paying users across 15M monthly actives in Q2 and management said the mix upgrading to EDGE has been broader than expected, spanning users who previously subscribed to nothing. AI now writes about 70% of Grindr's code and engineering output has 2.5x'd since July 2025, per company disclosures.