Chime is a banking app that says it is definitely not a bank. Banking app Chime was valued at around $12 billion (and reaching up to $18 billion) on Wednesday, after making its debut on the Nasdaq index. But the journey to profitability (Chime became profitable in the first quarter of 2025) and an IPO wasn't a slam dunk. The company's original CTO told TechCrunch that they were actually broke a decade ago and were turned down by at least 100 venture capitalists. "Two-thirds of our customer base use us as their direct deposit account and primary account relationship," Britt told CNBC.