Digital bank Chime Financial made its debut on the Nasdaq on Thursday, and it looks like the market's renewed appetite for initial public offerings continues to be alive and well.
Chime's stock opened at $43, nearly 60% above its IPO price of $27. Shares pulled back a bit, but still ended the day up 37% to just above $37. That values the company at about $13.5 billion.
Chime priced its stock sale of 32 million shares on Wednesday night at $27, slightly above its proposed range of $24 to $26.
The stock, which trades with the ticker symbol of CHYM, was expected to surge. The indicated opening level as of Thursday morning continued to climb before the stock finally began trading.
The company is selling just under 26 million shares in the offering while other existing shareholders are selling a little more than six million. Chime will raise just under $700 million from the sale and the other shareholders are raising about $165 million for combined proceeds of $864 million.
On a fully diluted basis, which includes shares from options as well as stock that underwriters might buy, Chime would be valued at $15.9 billion based on Thursday's closing price.
That is lower than the $25 billion valuation that Chime was worth based on its last round of private financing.
Still, Chime appears to be the next hot fintech IPO, following last week's offering by the stablecoin company Circle Internet Group. That stock has surged more than 240% from its debut price.
Demand was strong for Circle and other new offerings, such as defense and space infrastructure firm Voyager Technologies, which priced its IPO well ahead of its original range. Voyager stock gained more than 80% on Wednesday.
Chime is a so-called neobank, a tech company that partners with two banks backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to offer customers online checking and savings accounts, as well as other financial products.
The company, which is popular with young consumers, is growing rapidly thanks to offerings such as MyPay, which lets customers access up to $500 of their paycheck early. Another winner is SpotMe, an overdraft protection service. Many of Chime's products have low or no fees.
Chime Chief Financial Officer Matt Newcomb said in an interview with Barron's that the IPO "validates what we believe is a generational shift in the way everyday Americans are banked."
"We're just scratching the surface," Newcomb added.
A venture capitalist who has invested in Chime also remains bullish, adding that the company's growth will continue.
"At a time when few were convinced, our global perspective and deep industry partnerships gave us the conviction that neobanks could work," said Denis Barrier, co-founder & CEO of Cathay Innovation, which led a round of financing for Chime in 2017, in an email to Barron's. "The IPO isn't the finish line, it's part of a larger journey to redefine what banking can be in America."
Chime generates much of its revenue from interchange fees paid by card networks like Visa when customers use Chime-branded debit or credit cards. Chime's sales rose more than 30% in 2024 and were up another 32% in the first quarter of 2025. The company posted a loss of $25 million last year, but that was less than what Chime lost in 2023. The company also was profitable in the first quarter of 2025.
Chime is now trading at a big premium to other fintech companies, most notably SoFi, which Chime is often compared with. SoFi is valued at about 4.4 times 2024 revenue, while Chime, at its closing price Thursday, is trading at a price-to-sales ratio of nearly 8.5 over the same period.
Investors will be looking for signs that Chime can build on that first-quarter profit to justify this valuation. A positive sign is that demand for digital banking is clearly not going away.
"These companies are solving a real problem. And they are now established, big businesses with a much better product," said Ryan Falvey, managing partner with Restive Ventures, an investor in the mobile banking company Dave. "The traditional financial services industry does not serve a lot of consumers well."
Wall Street seems to agree. Shares of Dave have soared nearly 175% this year and more than 555% over the past 12 months.
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