Digital banking platform Chime launched its long-awaited IPO on Thursday, marking a strong return to the public markets for consumer fintech. The company priced its shares at $27, above the anticipated range, raising $864 million and closing trading at $37.11—a 37% jump. The rally still gave Chime a closing market capitalization of around $12 billion. That figure trails its 2021 private valuation of $25 billion, but signals renewed investor confidence.
The upbeat debut follows a broader reheating in public listings after years of macroeconomic headwinds and declining tech multiples. With Chime becoming profitable in early 2025 and other firms like Circle and Voyager also proving to be successful in recent IPOs, institutional investors are once again warming to growth-stage tech. After all, Chime’s performance may motivate other fintech unicorns to revisit their own IPO timelines.
Chime’s fundamentals support this momentum. The neobank generated $1.7 billion in revenue last year, up from $1.3 billion in 2023, while trimming losses significantly—from $203 million to just $25 million. In Q1 2025, it even turned a $13 million profit, though management emphasized that future quarters could again show red ink as the company ramps up customer acquisition spending.
The climb
The path to this IPO was anything but linear. Chime’s early years were fraught with rejection, including over 100 investor turndowns in 2016 when it struggled to raise a Series A extension. At one point, the company was nearly out of cash. The turning point came when Lauren Kolodny of Aspect Ventures (now Acrew Capital) took a contrarian bet, leading a $9 million round that ultimately kept the startup afloat. That investment, made at just $0.26 per share, has since transformed into billions in paper gains.
For founders Chris Britt and Ryan King, Thursday’s debut was more than a liquidity event: it was validation of a decade-long mission to build a mobile-first bank focused on no-fee services and financial inclusion. Chime’s interchange-based business model, along with offerings like early direct deposit access and credit-building tools, have earned it a loyal customer base. And if the enthusiasm seen on Nasdaq holds, the IPO could serve not just as a win for Chime, but as a slingshot for a fintech resurgence.
