CEO of Chime, Chris Britt, center right, rings the opening bell during the company's initial public offering at the Nasdaq MarketSite on June 12, 2025 in New York City.
Chime opened at $43 in its Nasdaq debut on Thursday after selling shares at $27 each in an IPO that valued the online banking company at $11.6 billion.
Late Wednesday, Chime raised about $700 million in its offering, and existing investors sold an additional $165 million worth of shares. The stock is trading under the ticker symbol CHYM.
Chime's IPO, from a valuation perspective, represents a big step down from where venture investors like Sequoia Capital valued the company in its last fundraising round in 2021, when private tech markets were raging. The valuation at the time was $25 billion.
Still, Chime's offering is the latest sign that the fintech IPO market is opening up after a multi-year freeze brought on by rising interest rates and valuation resets. Recent debuts from eToro and crypto company Circle have rekindled optimism in the sector, with both stocks seeing strong initial pops.
Chime reported $518.7 million in revenue for the most recent quarter, a 32% increase from a year earlier. Net income narrowed 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 earning $100,000 a year or less, a group often overlooked by traditional banks.
"Two-thirds of our customer base use us as their direct deposit account and primary account relationship," Britt told CNBC's David Faber. "We help our members avoid fees, get access to short-term liquidity, build their credit and build their savings — and it's that combination of services that really resonates and matters most to the everyday consumer."