Mobile-based banking services startup Chime has raked in $485m Series F investment, which values the fintech firm at $14.5bn, CNBC reported.
The funding round was joined by investment firms Coatue, Iconiq, Tiger Global, Whale Rock Capital, General Atlantic, Access Technology Ventures, Dragoneer, and DST Global.
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The latest funding round brings the total amount raised by the company to date to $1bn, the report added.
Chime, which partners with Bancorp and Stride Bank, will use the fresh capital for potential acquisitions and fuel its growth.
Through the latest investment, Chime has doubled its valuation since December 2019.
Just 18 months ago, Chime was valued at $1.5bn. Now it is worth 900% more, the CNBC report added.
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By GlobalDataThe latest funding round makes Chime the most valuable consumer-oriented fintech startup in the US.
Chime CEO Chris Britt said that the fintech firm’s transaction volume and revenue increased over three-fold this year.
Britt said: “Nobody wants to go into bank branches, nobody wants to touch cash anymore, and people are increasingly comfortable living their lives through their phones. We have a website, but people do not really use it. We are a mobile app, and that is how we deliver our services.
“We are more like a consumer software company than a bank. It is more a transaction-based, processing-based business model that is highly predictable, highly recurring, and highly profitable.”
Britt said that Chime is opening hundreds of thousands of accounts per month and will become “IPO-ready” within a year.
This comes after Wall Street giant JPMorgan Chase set up a trading team for buying shares in fintech giants including Robinhood, Airbnb, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Chime is competing with free-trading app Robinhood, which also raised fresh funds at an $11.2bn valuation, last month.
Britt said: “A lot of these guys are a combination of late-stage private and public investors. Having folks who invest in public markets making high-conviction bets in your company is a great signal to future investors that these savvy guys who have great track records are investors in the business.”
Founded in 2013, Chime offers no-fee mobile banking accounts and debit cards as well as ATM access to customers.
Chime mostly earns money when customers swipe their debit or credit cards.
