Learn how to invest in Chime stock when the IPO arrives. Get access to select IPOs with TradeStation. Or browse pre-IPO platforms for early equity opportunities.
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Latest Chime Stock IPO News
11/10/2022: Chime cuts 12% of its workforce
05/27/2022: Barron’s: Fintech Chime Financial Is Staying Private
05/17/2022: Chime Ranked #12 on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 List
02/18/2022: With Fintech Stocks Down 40%, Chime Delays Its IPO
01/21/2022: Chime lines up Goldman Sachs for blockbuster IPO
12/13/2021: Chime Users Can Now Make Deposits at Walgreens For Free
10/23/2021: Chime In Talks To Go Public At $35 Billion To $45 Billion Valuation
08/13/2021: WSJ: Chime Financial Raises $750 Million in Latest Funding Round
05/10/2021: If Chime Isn’t A Bank, Then What Is It?
09/16/2020: Chime prepares stock market listing as online banking grows
09/18/2020: Chime is now worth $14.5 billion
12/05/2019: Digital company Chime quadruples valuation
What is Chime?
Chime* is an online financial app that has redesigned the way millennials manage their money. As of 2020, the company has more than 8 million customers.
Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.
Customers conduct financial activities on the app or desktop platforms, and each receives a debit card for spending. Chime makes money on interchange fees each time a customer swipes their debit card.
With no physical locations, the company can scale at a lower cost than traditional banks. Its simple-to-use mobile interface appeals to a generation with limited banking needs who are dissatisfied with legacy banking bloat and fees.
Along with Robinhood and Stripe, Chime* is one of several fintech apps and upcoming IPOs riding the wave of mobile technology efficiencies.
Here’s a recent promotional video:
Is Chime Stock Publicly Traded?
No, Chime Financial, Inc. is privately owned. The shareholders include founders, early investors (venture capital firms), and employees.
You can find a current list of Chime investors at Crunchbase.
Chime has raised at least $2.25 billion in private financing since its founding. Prominent venture capital investors include Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Coatue Management, Tiger Global Management, DST Global, General Atlantic, and Menlo Ventures.
The most recent funding of $750 million in August 2021 values the company at $25 billion. Forbes reported in October the company will seek an IPO valuation between $35 and $45 billion.
When is the Chime IPO Date?
The Chime IPO date is currently unknown.
Reuters reported in January 2022 that Chime is working with Goldman Sachs as the lead IPO underwriter, suggest the IPO will happen in 2022.
However, Barron’s reported in May 2022 that the company is likely delaying the IPO until after 2022 due to market conditions and to add new products.
In February 2022, Forbes reported the company is targeting a Q4 2022 IPO, delayed from March 2022.
In August 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported the company is now valued at $25 billion after its latest fundraising effort, making it one of the most valuable companies in fintech.
We won’t get a better sense of when the Chime IPO will be until one of two things happens:
- A more refined Chime IPO date range leaks to the financial press
- The SEC releases a publicly-available Chime S-1 filing
Even when the company and SEC publicly release the S-1 filing, we still won’t know a firm date. However, the IPO date typically occurs a month or so after the S-1 is released to the public.
Bookmark this page for the latest Chime IPO news.
What is the Chime Stock Price?
Since Chime is not publicly traded on a stock exchange, there is no Chime stock price yet.
An estimated price range for the IPO won’t be publicized until after the S-1 filing is made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
What is the Chime Stock Symbol? Chime Ticker?
Chime has not yet submitted public filings to the SEC. Therefore, it is not yet known what the Chime stock symbol will be. We can only speculate.
A shorter symbol may be more likely in this case, as these two suggestions appear to be available on U.S. exchanges:
- CH
- CHM
Two obvious suggestions appear to be already taken:
- CHIM – Global X MSCI China Materials ETF
- CHME – China Medicine Corporation (penny stock that trades OTC, may be available)
Will Chime Stock be a Motley Fool Stock Advisor Recommendation?
We won’t know until after the IPO if Chime will be a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation. However, Chime fits the mold of high-growth, disruptive business models that the Fool typically recommends.
When the Motley Fool recommends a company, there is usually an immediate spike in the price. Fool newsletter subscribers are notoriously long-term minded and rarely sell, meaning the stock price will continue to rise.
Chime may also receive a recommendation by the Motley Fool Rule Breakers (Rule Breakers review) newsletter or other premium services. Both services have handily beaten the broader market since the early 2000s.
Read this Motley Fool Stock Advisor review to learn about the stock selection methodology and about how you can participate in excellent returns.
Stock Advisor is currently half off at just $99 for an annual subscription.
Can you Invest in Chime Stock? Four Potential Ways
You cannot buy Chime stock today. But if there’s an IPO 2022, you may have opportunities to invest soon.
Generally, it’s challenging to acquire shares of high demand IPOs. Most investors will need to settle for buying the stock after it begins trading.
IPO underwriters typically give their best customers access first, then allocate shares to certain institutions and brokers often tied by professional relationships.
When the largest brokers receive IPO shares, they divvy them up amongst their eligible customers, prioritizing their most valued customers first (wealthiest).
For high-demand deals, most investors will not get shares.
In recent years, a few brokers have partnered with the IPO investing app ClickIPO to give access to individual investors based on a proprietary rating instead of assets under management.
The ClickIPO rating, known as the Investor Score, rates higher those investors who hold IPO shares instead of flipping them.
Though ClickIPO has not demonstrated the ability to allocate app users with high-demand IPO shares, they’ve executed dozens of lesser-known IPOs on its platform.
For individual investors without a high net worth, ClickIPO and its partner brokers TradeStation and Webull are the most likely chance of participating in IPOs since the demise of LOYAL3 and Motif Investing.
Robinhood and SoFi are also now providing IPO access to retail investors.
With that, here are four potential ways to own Chime Stock:
- Buy Chime stock after it begins trading
- Buy Chime stock in the Chime IPO through a broker
- Buy Chime stock in the IPO through a potential directed share program (if applicable)
- Attempt to acquire Chime stock in pre-IPO secondary marketplaces before the IPO
1. Buy Chime stock after the Chime IPO
Since acquiring IPO shares is almost always challenging for individual investors, the easiest way to own Chime stock is to wait for the IPO to complete.
Realistically, unless your brokerage account is worth more than $1 million and your broker regularly receives IPO allocations, you are unlikely to get in on high-demand IPOs.
In some cases, patient investors can buy the stock at or below the IPO price. This is not always true.
Uber, which many predicted to rise steeply, actually fell on the IPO date.
Spending significant effort to acquire IPO shares may not be worth it in the end. You may also spend time and effort to obtain shares but only receive a small allocation, limiting upside gain.
Though IPOs can provide one-day gains north of 20%, even up to 100% in rare cases (such as Airbnb and Doordash), the most significant gains will come during the decade following the IPO if the company is genuinely disruptive.
Take, for example, Netflix, Amazon, or Tesla. You could have bought the stock years after the IPO and still experienced gains of more than 1,000%
If you’re an investor that wants to buy Chime stock for the long-term, consider opening a position after the IPO and averaging down if the stock falls.
Short-term traders may angle to acquire IPO shares and hope for a short-term pop.
2. Buy Chime stock in the Chime IPO through a broker
Ambitious investors can position themselves to invest in the Chime IPO once it arrives.
Your chances of getting IPO shares depends on four factors:
- IPO demand
- Your broker and eligibility
- Your assets under management at the broker
- Propensity to flip shares
As IPO demand increases, the chances of receiving IPO shares decreases. Therefore, the IPOs that are most interesting to the masses are the hardest to access.
Most online brokers do not offer IPO shares. Check directly to see if yours does, or look at our list of best brokers for IPO investing.
Legacy brokers, such as Fidelity and Charles Schwab, have minimum eligibility requirements and penalties for flipping shares (selling shortly after the IPO).
But even if eligible, the brokers must sub-allocate whatever limited shares they receive from the IPO underwriters.
This process is non-transparent, but priority is likely given to the wealthiest investors first.
For example, if your account balance is $500,000, and that makes you eligible according to terms, the broker may only have enough IPO shares to distribute to customers with assets of $3,000,000 or more.
This brings us to ClickIPO.
ClickIPO is a smartphone app that partners with TradeStation (through the app) and Webull (directly) to deliver IPO access to ordinary investors.
There is no minimum account value required.
ClickIPO prioritizes IPO share distribution by its Investor Score, which measures how likely an investor is to flip shares. Investors more likely to flip shares are considered to be less desirable IPO beneficiaries (in theory).
Therefore, ClickIPO offers a value proposition to underwriters and newly public companies.
Though quick profits from IPOs is one way the large underwriter reward whale-sized clients.
Regardless of the four factors above, there is never a guarantee that any investor will receive a share allocation.
3. Buy Chime stock in the IPO through a potential directed share program (if available)
Occasionally, companies with an existing customer base offer IPO shares to a limited number of those customers through a directed share program.
Companies disclose the intent to implement a directed share program in the S-1 filing to the SEC, once released to the public. The program states that a certain number of shares are set aside to allow customers and affiliates the opportunity to buy IPO shares.
Those customers may receive an email leading up to the IPO, asking if they would like to participate. Customers participate on a first-come, first-served basis and must purchase shares to participate.
Directed share programs have become more prevalent in recent years. Uber, Airbnb, GoPro, and LendingClub all offered shares to customers and affiliates.
At this stage, there have been zero indications that Chime would offer a directed share program. However, it’s possible with their extensive customer base.
Customers should pay attention to the S-1 filing when released. Search for the term “directed share program” to see if there may be an opportunity to participate.
Keep in mind, Chime does not owe this to anyone. It will only happen if they want to reward customers for helping them grow. Even so, it’s likely only a small percentage of customers would be eligible and follow through with the investment.
This website will pay attention and update this section should a directed share program be initiated in the Chime IPO S-1 filing.
4. Attempt to acquire shares in pre-IPO secondary marketplaces
Founders, early employees, and investors often find themselves in a difficult predicament. They own valuable shares of a company that doesn’t trade publicly.
These shareholders might have multi-million dollar net worth’s because of their stock holdings, but the stock is not liquid because it doesn’t trade on an exchange.
A few platforms have evolved to gives these individuals a way to liquidate their holding before the IPO.
Some of the more prominent sites include Linqto, EquityZen, and Forge Global. Learn more about pre-IPOI investing.
Both sites bring liquidity to an otherwise illiquid asset. Accredited investors (those with invested assets > $1,000,000) may join these sites and attempt to buy these companies’ shares when they become available.
The shares are only offered to accredited investors because the company’s financials are not publicly filed with regulators yet, increasing the investors’ risk.
For high-profile companies, demand is high, lowering your chances of acquiring shares. The author considers this a low-likelihood way to acquire shares. However, some readers have written with success stories buying shares this way.
Where can I find the Chime S-1 Filing?
The Chime S-1 filing won’t be publicly available until released. Once it is public, we’ll post it here.
You can find a real-time SEC feed of the latest IPO filings from other companies on the recent S-1 filings page.
Best Brokers to Buy Chime Stock
What is the best online brokerage for buying Chime stock?
If you want to participate in the IPO, see the complete list of best brokers for IPO investing here.
Joining a broker that offers access to IPOs does not guarantee a share allocation, especially in high-demand IPOs. You are may be better off waiting for the company to start trading after the IPO.
* Disclosure: This web page contains affiliate links from our partners. If a reader opens an account or buys a service from a link in this article, we may be compensated at no additional cost to the reader. Opening an account with a broker that provides access to IPOs does not guarantee the customer allocations of specific IPOs. The author is long ABNB, TSLA BYND.