Chime Climbs In Market Debut

Shares of online banking company Chime shot up 37% in first-day trading Thursday on Nasdaq, the latest in a string of high-performing IPOs.

San Francisco-based Chime priced shares for its IPO at $27 each on Wednesday, above the projected range of $24 to $26. The company raised roughly $700 million in the offering, with another $165 million in shares sold by existing investors. Shares closed at $37.

The offering comes amid an increasingly busy period for unicorn IPOs. On Wednesday, space and defense tech startup Voyager Technologies made its New York Stock Exchange debut to strong demand. And last week, stablecoin issuer Circle saw its shares soar in initial trading.

Unlike many venture-backed IPO candidates, both Chime and Circle are profitable. Chime posted net income of $12.9 million in the first quarter of this year. It also reported Q1 revenue of $519 million, up 33% from a year ago.

Founded in 2012, Chime was also a heavy fundraiser in its startup days. Between 2013 and 2021, it raised $2.3 billion in known equity funding, with DST Global, Crosslink Capital and Menlo Ventures among its largest venture stakeholders.

Pipeline heating up

While the IPO market overall is looking more active, the fintech space in particular appears to be heating up. Besides Chime and Circle, another one to watch is Swedish buy-now, pay-later provider Klarna.

Klarna filed to go public in March but delayed its offering when markets turned bearish. With the IPO market looking receptive these days, however, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it make its entry soon as well.