Chris Britt, the CEO of the center-right chime, will ring the opening bell at the company’s first public offer held at NASDAQ MarketSite on June 12, 2025 in New York City.
Andres Kudakki | Getty Images
chime It opened for $43 on its Nasdaq debut on Thursday after selling its shares for $27 each at an IPO valued at $11.6 billion.
Late Wednesday, Chime raised about $700 million in service, with existing investors selling another $165 million worth of stock. The stocks are traded under the ticker symbol chim.
Chime’s IPO is taking a big step from where venture investors like Sequoia Capital were furious in their final funding round of 2021. It was rated at $25 billion at the time.
Still, Chime’s offering is the latest indication that the fintech IPO market is opening up after a multi-year freeze brought about by rising interest rates and valuation resets. Since his recent debut Etro and crypto companies Round It rekindled sector optimism as both stocks watched strong early pop.
Chime reported revenue of $518.7 million for the most recent quarter, up 32% from the previous year. Net income shrunk slightly to $12.9 million, down from $15.9 million in the same period last year.
CEO Chris Britt said Chime has built a loyal user base by serving Americans who make under $100,000 a year.
“Two-thirds of our customer base use us as our direct deposit account and our primary account relationship,” Britt told CNBC’s David Faber. “We help our members avoid fees, access short-term liquidity, build credits, build savings, and it really resonates and is the most important combination of services for everyday consumers.”
Britt said the company reached $25 million in first quarter-adjusted profitability, improving its adjusted profit margin of 40 points over the past two years.
The company’s top institutional shareholders are DST Global and Crosslink Capital. Iconiq was one of the companies that Chime invested six years ago when it raised money at a $1.5 billion valuation.
“We first invested in Chime in 2019 and continued our investment throughout the subsequent rounds as we have a specific and unwavering focus on serving everyday Americans.
The average chime customer uses the chime card to complete more than 55 transactions per month and interacts with the app 4-5 times a day. According to Britt, active member growth has increased by 23% in the first quarter from a year ago, with 8.6 million active users increasing each month, increasing numbers, and has become a primary banking relationship.
Acquiring customers is not cheap. Chime revealed in her prospectus that she spent $1.4 billion on marketing between 2022 and 2024. Britt said that when users set up direct deposits, the retention rate is above 90%.
“Sometimes, for people, it’s necessary because it’s the point where life changes, their career changes, their job changes — they actually switch and use us as our primary bank account,” he said.
The company’s core revenue comes from the exchange fee when a consumer swipes on a chime-issued debit or credit card, and the invoice paid by the merchant. Britt said 72% of Chime’s revenues are payment-driven, compared to traditional banks, which rely heavily on overdrafts and fees from minimum balances.
“It’s very simple,” said Dan Dref, analyst at Mizho. “I’m actually amazed at how refined the business model isn’t really.”
Chime’s performance in the open market may set the tone of what comes next. Several other fintech players, including Klarna, Gemini and Bullish, have already applied publicly or confidentially to the IPO.
“If that works out, I think you’ll see much more acceptability in the next two to three months,” said David Golden, a partner at Revolution Ventures and a former head of technology investment banking at JPMorgan Chase.
“If things don’t work, I think they’ll continue to sit in their hands and wait for it,” Golden added.
Chime is the five-time CNBC Disruptor 50 Company that has created an annual list for 2020-2024.
See: What happens now the IPO window is open
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