San Francisco-based fintech giant Chime announced last week that it raised $750 million in a funding round led by Sequoia. The massive round sent the decacorn’s valuation skyrocketing to $25 billion — a big jump for the company, which was valued at $14.5 billion following its $485 million Series F last September.
Chime, founded in 2013, offers checking and saving accounts as well as introductory credit cards through its mobile app. Unlike having an account at a traditional bank, Chime doesn’t charge its users account fees or require a minimum balance. In addition to that, the platform provides users signed on for direct deposit with the ability to access their paychecks early.
Chime’s latest raise will help the company lay the foundation for an IPO early next year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As technology continues to upend the banking sector in the wake of the pandemic, investors remain keenly focused on supplying fintech companies with the capital they need to succeed. Chime’s latest raise is the freshest evidence of that, but a few other Bay Area-based companies made bank this year in anticipation of an IPO. Menlo Park-based Robinhood and Oakland-based Marqeta both filed IPOs this year, for example.
Following the latest raise, Chime is now the nation’s second most valuable fintech startup after Stripe, according to Fortune.
Chime was recently in talks to lease nearly 200,000 square feet of office space in the Financial District. The company is now hiring for over 90 positions spanning its data, design, engineering and finance teams, to name a few.
