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GRINDR has been shortlisted in Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list for the first time.

Announced yesterday, Grindr ranked 10th in the online magazine’s Most Innovative Social Media Company list.


The gay hook-up/dating app was listed “for promoting tolerance worldwide” through the implementation of its Grindr for Equality campaign.

The campaign seeks to use the international reach of the app to increase sexual health awareness, advocate for sexual diversity, as well as to direct Syrian refugees to LGBT-competent services in Lebanon.

Advocates have also used Grindr to alert users to police crackdowns in Egypt, and more recently the app partnered with groups like the Beijing Gender Health and Education Institute (BGHEI) “to ensure Grindr users in China have access to thorough and relevant sexual health information in colloquial Chinese”.

The listing comes only a month after Chinese gaming company Kunlun bought a significant stake in Grindr, which will reportedly allow the app to continue its “impact and expansion into cultural, philanthropic and experiential spheres,” Grindr said in a statement.

Grindr also partnered with British fashion designer J.W Anderson earlier this year to live stream his fall/winter 2016 menswear runway show through the app.

“Since our inception, Grindr has been working hard on constant innovation and this honour only underscores this year’s effort to once again push the boundaries of what our network and app can achieve,” Grindr founder and chief executive Joel Simkhai said.

The Fast Company list, which includes companies from across 40 sectors of the economy, was compiled for the first time using machine intelligence.

“We partnered with Quid, a San Francisco – based startup whose software can read millions of news articles, blog posts, company profiles, and patents — and offer immediate insight by organising that content visually,” Fast Company stated on its website.

“A team of researchers created topographical maps of innovation across more than 40 sectors of the economy to identify the most relevant trends — along with the companies instigating or best capitalising on them.”

Also on the Innovative Social Media Company list were Tinder, Periscope, and Facebook, while BuzzFeed took out top place as Fast Company‘s Most Innovate Company for 2016.