Broke the ceiling! Chime (CHYM.US) IPO priced above the upper limit of the range, raising 864 million US dollars.

American Financial Group, Inc. technology company Chime (CHYM.US) announced on Wednesday that its initial public offering (IPO) successfully raised $864 million at an offering price of $27 per share. The initial price range for the offering was set at $24 to $26 per share, exceeding the expected upper limit. Based on fully diluted shares outstanding, Chime's IPO values the company at approximately $11.6 billion, making it one of the largest tech IPOs in recent years for American Financial Group, Inc. This IPO comes at a time when industry valuations are retracing from the peak brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which fintech and e-commerce companies received significant investments. Founded in 2012 by former Visa (V.US) executive Chris Britt and former Comcast Corporation Class A (CMCSA.US) employee Ryan King, the company partners with physical banks to provide financial services. Its signature product includes a branded checking account with user-friendly features such as fee-free overdraft. In the previous major financing round in 2021, Chime was valued at $25 billion, with investors including Yuri Milner's DST Global, private equity firm General Atlantic, and investment firm ICONIQ. Chime's stock will be listed for trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Thursday under the ticker symbol "CHYM". This IPO follows stablecoin issuer Circle's (CRCL.US) strong debut in early June, injecting new vitality into the US IPO market, which has been languishing due to uncertainties from the Trump administration's tariff policies. The company had originally planned to go public earlier this year but delayed due to the market turbulence caused by the Trump "liberation day" tariff announcement. The recent resurgence in the IPO market has prompted more companies to restart their listing plans, with June being a key window period - companies are hoping to take advantage of the relatively stable market environment before the traditional summer slowdown. As of March 31st, Chime had 8.6 million active members. The prospectus shows that each active member contributed an average of $251 in revenue in the first quarter, with an average of 54 transactions per month, of which 75% were consumer transactions using Chime branded cards. The company's main source of revenue is interchange fees - the fees paid by merchants to payment networks such as Visa when customers use Chime debit or credit cards for transactions. For the fiscal year ending December 31, Chime's net loss per share narrowed to $0.39 compared to $3.22 in 2023 and $8.12 in 2022. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are the lead underwriters for this IPO.