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The parent company of Hinge and Tinder is courting a potential new addition to its roster. Match Group on Monday announced a $100 million investment in Sniffies, a map-based cruising platform for queer men.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As part of the investment, Sniffies will continue to be led by founder and CEO Blake Gallagher, the company said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the first conversations with the Match Group team, we knew they understood what makes Sniffies different. This partnership is about supporting that, not redefining it,\u201d Gallagher said in a statement on the Sniffies Instagram\u2014which was met with skepticism by followers.<\/p>\n
Sniffies launched in 2018 and has three million monthly active users via its web-based platform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Match Group\u2019s announcement noted that the minority stake came with the option for a full acquisition in the future. Alongside the Sniffies investment, the company told Bloomberg<\/a> that it would be winding down Archer, its platform for queer men launched in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company\u2019s strategy with Sniffies mimics the one it followed with Hinge, which Match Group first backed in 2017 and acquired in 2018. Within Match Group, Hinge founder Justin McLeod built that platform into the crown jewel of its portfolio.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike Hinge, Sniffies has managed to scale to 20 million messages sent daily without a traditional app. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n