• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 12, 2016

After nearly seven years of freewheeling independence, Grindr just got hitched.

Beijing Kunlun Tech Company has agreed to pay $93 million in exchange for a 60% stake in the social dating app for gay men, the Chinese gaming giant said in a statement.

With a presence in 196 countries around the world, Grindr currently claims about 2 million regular daily visitors.

Grindr said the sale would provide the necessary resources to safely scale its business, and keep pace with its competition.

“We have taken this investment in our company to accelerate our growth, to allow us to expand our services,” Joel Simkhai Grindr’s founder and CEO, explained in a blog post on Tuesday.

“It will generally be business as usual for us here at Grindr, but with a renewed sense of purpose and additional resources to deliver a great product,” Simkhai added.

And, competition is fierce. Match Group -- owner of rival social dating app Tinder -- recently sought to raise $400 million by way of an IPO.

The deal with Beijing Kunlun reportedly values Grindr at about $155 million.

The investment represents a departure of sorts for Beijing Kunlun, which is generally known for its gaming investments. Last year, the company scored an exclusive deal with Rovio Entertainment to develop a version of its enormously successful mobile game Angry Birds for Chinese audiences.

Grindr’s revenue was roughly $32 million in 2014 -- up nearly 30% from $25 million in 2013.