Joel Simkhai (/sɪmˈkaɪ/ ⓘ; Hebrew: יואל שמחאי; born c. 1976[1][2]) is an Israeli-American-French[3] tech entrepreneur.

[5] His original goal in starting Grindr was for people with similar interests to find new friends nearby.

[8] While in high school, he says he dated women; he remarked that he was not being dishonest about his sexuality, but that his "coming out of the closet was a process".

[8] He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations & Economics from Tufts University in May 1998.

[8] While he started with little money or expertise,[11] and never expected Grindr to become international,[8] he became a multimillionaire CEO of an app with millions of users worldwide.