At long last, digital consumer bank Chime has moved forward with its IPO by filing its S-1 paperwork Tuesday. Chime had reportedly filed confidential S-1 paperwork back in December.
S-1 filings typically reveal all kinds of information, covering financial, legal, and other risk factors. But Chime’s S-1 documents still have a lot of blank spaces. We don’t know how many shares it hopes to sell or at what price. Chime could be aiming to raise $1 billion, IPO specialist Renaissance Capital believes.
We also don’t know how many shares insiders plan to sell as part of the IPO. This includes its major backers, a list that includes billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global, Michael Stark’s Crosslink Capital, billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, as well as VC firms General Atlantic, Menlo Ventures (led by board member Shawn Carolan), the Sino French Innovation Fund, and Iconiq, according to the paperwork.
Chime raised $2.65 billion total as a private company, including its last raise in 2021 that valued it at $25 billion, PitchBook estimates. As a result, there are many more VCs on its cap table. They, too, could be in for big paydays. For instance, Kirsten Green’s Forerunner Ventures and Hunter Walk’s Homebrew both claim Chime as a portfolio company.
Chime offered one detail that suggests the company believes it will be a huge IPO. Chime enlisted an army of big name investment bankers, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan.
The financials show why investors may grow excited. The company finished 2024 with $1.67 billion in revenue and $25 million in losses, compared to nearly $1.3 billion in revenue and $203 million in losses in 2023. Its 2025 first-quarter revenue was already $519 million. So, by Silicon Valley math, that puts it on track for $2 billion this year and near profitability.
Chime offers consumer checking, savings, debit, and credit cards and claims 8.6 million active users.
One interesting reveal in the paperwork. Its board member Cynthia Marshall served as the CEO of the Dallas Mavericks from 2018 to December 2024. Chime became a Mavericks sponsor during that time. It paid around $33 million over three years (2022-2024), which gained it the Chime logo on the team’s jersey, among other marketing benefits. Without that deal, it might have already been profitable.
