Chime’s Nasdaq Debut Reignites FinTech IPO Momentum With 37% Stock Surge

Chime’s debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange Thursday was resoundingly positive, as the shares closed more than 37% higher.

The shares went public at $27, and opened at more than $43 at the start of trading before closing at $37.11. The intraday high was nearly $45.

Chime, for its part, raised about $864 million, as we reported Wednesday night. And by the time the stock finished trading on Thursday (June 12), the market cap was $12.3 billion. It’s worth noting, too, that in after-hours trading, and as of this writing, the shares were up another 2.4%.

What’s Changed

The market cap is roughly half of the valuation seen in 2021, at $25 billion.

Since then, FinTech IPOs have come to market and had a rough go of it — at least many of them have. The FinTech IPO Index, which we publish weekly (and where a new installment will run Friday morning) has its share of “busted IPOs” that trade below their offering price.

As of March, private equity and venture capital funding to FinTechs, which can be used as shorthand for the pipeline of future IPO candidates, hit a multiyear low. S&P Global Market Intelligence said in March that the sector attracted $21.5 billion in venture capital last year, the lowest level of funding since 2016.

But now, as 2025 is nearly half over, Wall Street’s enthusiasm for FinTechs has been positive. Circle, as has been widely reported, notched triple-digit percentage point gains in its first day of trading.  Chime’s Thursday push helps underscore that enthusiasm.

In part, the investors crowding into the space are likely emboldened by the regulatory rollbacks from the likes of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has, for example, dropped rules that would regulate some FinTechs like banks.

Chime’s own niche is in offering up an app that provides financial services, including payments, to a roster of users that by and large make less than $100,000. PYMNTS has detailed in a deep dive into the firm’s filing with the SEC that the demographics skew younger, where the average member’s age is 36. The company’s 8.6 million active members base is 23% higher than a year ago.

In its S-1, the company states that the firm is focused on making banking free or low-cost for everyday Americans. It offers members free access to checking accounts, Chime-branded debit and credit cards, SpotMe, MyPay, high-yield savings accounts, and Chime+. It also offers access to over 45,000 fee-free ATMs. It does not charge overdraft fees with SpotMe or nonsufficient funds fees, relying on a model where the economics are largely supported by interchange-based fees paid by the payment networks; banking partners issue the debit and credit cards used by Chime members.

PYMNTS Intelligence data has found that younger consumers are ready, willing, and with their phones, able to shift their banking allegiances to digital-only providers. Fifty-four percent of Gen Zers rely primarily on nontraditional financial service providers.