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š¤ Built, Broke, Now Public
From Nearly Out of Cash to Nasdaq: Chimeās IPO Moment, Why Fintech Canāt Ignore Immigrant Power, + a Humans of Fintech throwback.

Hey fintech fam š
Big day for our industryāChime just IPOād. As someone whoās covered fintech for a decade, I know a win like this sends waves. Inclusion. Profitability. Staying power. Thatās the storyāand it matters.
Plus: Iām digging into the economic power of immigrants (yes, itās connected), andā¦
San Francisco, Iām coming your way.
Next week, while Iām in town, weāre hosting a members-only happy hour for The Academy of Fintech, Fintech Is Femmeās private community of 150+ operators, execs, and builders.
Want in? Founding memberships are open. Canāt wait to see you in SF!
Now, letās get into it.
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Whatās Up In Fintech
Every Thursday, I bring you the latest fintech news and trends, delivering the key insights that matter most to the industryāand you.
#1 From Nearly Out of Cash to Nasdaq: Chimeās IPO Moment

One of 2025ās most anticipated IPOās finally happenedāyes, it was a fintech.
On Thursday, Chime, the neobank built for everyday Americans, debuted on the Nasdaq under the ticker CHYM, raising $864 million with an IPO price of $27. By the close of trading, it had surged to $37 per share, giving it a market cap of $12 billion.
Thatās a confident return to public markets for a category many had written off.
But the real story of Chimeās IPO isnāt the price pop. Itās the journeyāand what it tells us about the resilience, transformation, and future direction of fintech.
A Decade-Long Build to Overnight Success
Founded in 2012, Chime set itself apart from day oneānot as a traditional bank, but as a tech company built around consumer outcomes.
Serving the 75% of Americans earning under $100K, its mission has always been financial inclusion: offering truly fee-free banking and making money not through penalties, but through interchange fees tied directly to customer spending.
Chimeās growth hasnāt been linear. TechCrunch reported that the company nearly died before its Series B round.
I can already hear investors asking themselves:
Could a neobank targeting lower-income customers survive?
Could a product based on free checking accounts and debit cards generate real revenue?
Today, Chimeās financials offer a resounding āyes.ā
2023 Revenue: $1.3 billion
2024 Revenue: $1.7 billion
2023 Loss: $203 million
2024 Loss: $25 million
Q1 2025: $13 million net income on $519 million revenue
This is what sustainable scale looks like. Chime didnāt just growāit grew smarter, leaned into efficiency, and became profitable.
Built in a Boom, Survived the Bust
As Drew Glover, my podcast co-host and founding partner at Fiat Growth, put it:
āChime wasnāt built in this market. It was born in a moment of abundanceāwhere capital was cheap, rounds were massive, and distribution played differently. But Chime made the most of it. They scaled. They served. They lasted.ā
Thatās the lesson here. Chime emerged in the go-go VC days of the 2010s. But what earned them this IPO wasnāt flashy spending or unchecked growth. It was a strategic adaptation.
They built a product for the underbankedāstill one of the most underserved demographics in financial services. And by monetizing user activity (not user pain), they created an incentive alignment rare in finance.
Every swipe earns Chime money. But customers only swipe when they actually have funds. Itās a business model based on trust, not traps.
Why It Matters: Momentum Is Contagious
As someone who's reported on fintech for the last decade, I know patterns and inflection points when I see them. Chimeās IPO is more than a company milestoneāitās a signal to the industry.
Weāve been in a fintech IPO drought. Since SoFiās debut in June 2021, the marketās been cautious. Sure, eToro and Circle have gone public this yearābut Chimeās strong showing might finally break the inertia.
Other fintech unicornsālike Klarna, Gemini, and Stripeāare watching closely. The success of Chimeās debut will likely influence when (and how) these companies pursue their own public market strategies.
Itās worth noting that:
The U.S. IPO market is slowly reawakening in 2025, with volumes up 40% YoY, per Renaissance Capital.
Fintech-specific VC is rebounding too: global fintech funding hit $10.3 billion in Q1 2025, the highest level of funding since Q1 2023, according to CB Insights.
Public market sentiment is shifting toward profitable, purpose-driven companiesāand Chime checks both boxes.
What Comes Next
Chimeās story reminds us that fintech isnāt deadāitās maturing.
D2C fintech may not be ābackā in the way some want, but itās certainly evolving. Future winners will look less like blitzscalers and more like precision operators. As Drew put it:
āWhat comes next wonāt be neobanks. Itāll be focused. Scrappy. Obsessed with solving obvious problems in non-obvious ways.ā
This IPO is a proof point. It shows that if you can survive the noise, stay aligned with your customer, and actually make moneyāthere is still a way through.
So the question isnāt just whatās next for Chime. Itās: What are you building?
The runway is clearing. The market is watching. And the momentum is real.
#2 Immigrants Drive Economic Growth āFintech Needs In

The debates rage on about borders, labor, and identityābut hereās what the data says: immigrants donāt drain the American economy. They drive it.
And in fintech? They represent a generational market we havenāt even begun to serve properly.
Just look at what Chime pulled off this week.
They saw a market others overlooked: working-class Americans earning under $100K. Investors passed. Experts doubted. The neobank model seemed risky. But Chime doubled down on that underserved marketāand built a $12 billion company.
That playbook works. And it applies to other overlooked consumer markets, too.
Immigrants make up just 15% of the U.S. populationābut they launch 20% of all businesses.
Theyāre 80% more likely to become entrepreneurs than U.S.-born citizens.
Over 3.2 million immigrants currently run their own businesses, generating $1.3 trillion in sales and employing nearly 8 million workers.
Thatās not charity. Thatās GDP.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates immigrationāregardless of legal statusāwill add $7 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next decade.
And hereās the part too many ignore:
No matter what political narrative dominates the headlines, immigrants will continue to be part of Americaās economic engine. They are here. They are building. They are banking. The financial system already relies on their labor, their entrepreneurship, and their spending.
So why hasnāt fintech kept up?
Immigrants face wildly different financial realities. Many operate cash-heavy businesses. Many are unbanked or underbanked. Most navigate language barriers, lack of credit history, or remittance obligations. These arenāt edge casesātheyāre the core use cases.
This is a blueprint moment for fintech. Whoever builds for these consumers wins long-term.
And the proof is everywhere.
40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants.
55% of U.S. unicorns have at least one immigrant founder.
Why It Matters
Chime proved that building for overlooked markets is not a compromise. Itās a strategy.
If fintech wants to lead the next decade of financial innovation, it must build for the communities shaping the economyās next chapter. Immigrant consumers arenāt a niche. They are the future middle class. They are the new business class. And theyāre ready to be servedāwith intention, equity, and smart product design.
Immigrant-founded companies are already valued higher than the GDPs of some countries.
Now ,imagine what happens when we build infrastructure that actually supports the next wave of immigrant founders and families.
The opportunity is here. The numbers are clear. Itās just a matter of whoās bold enough to see itālike Chime did.
#3 Redefining Wealth-Building in Latin America with Carlos DĆaz of RUUT

While we get ready to drop new episodes of Humans of Fintech, Iām throwing it back to one of our convos recorded live on the Nasdaq trading floor earlier this year.
I sat down with Carlos DĆaz, Co-Founder of RUUTāMexicoās largest Registered Investment Advisorāto talk about inclusion, innovation, and investing for the next generation.
RUUT is breaking barriers for first-time investors (average user age: 24!), with nearly 60% of its user base identifying as women.
Thatās hugeāespecially when research consistently shows that women investors outperform men over time thanks to smarter risk management, long-term strategy, and better diversification.
With $4M in assets under management and over $100K in returns generated for its community, RUUT is redefining what it means to invest in a market with historically low financial literacy.
In this episode, we dive into:
Designing products for people whoāve never invested before
Why building for women isnāt nicheāitās just smart
How UX builds trust in underserved markets
Whatās next for fintech across Latin America
šļø Listen on YouTube, Apple, or Spotifyāand stay tuned, new episodes of Humans of Fintech are dropping soon.
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THURSDAY, JUNE 19
[SAN FRANCISCO] SF Happy Hour with The Academy of Fintech šø

The Academy of Fintech is hosting a private happy hour for our founding membersā150+ operators, execs, and builders committed to leveling up together.
This is where intros happen, deals get sparked, and real momentum builds.
Want in? Founding memberships are now open.
RSVP for happy hour if youāre a member or apply to join the community here.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
[NEW YORK] EMERALD CLIMATE FINTECH SUMMIT
Happening Sept 19 in NYC during Climate Week.
Where climate meets capital.
Where women lead.
Where fintech scales what matters.
At Fintech Is Femme, we follow the moneyāand itās heading straight to climate.
Climate fintech is not a niche. Itās the next big business strategy.
ā $12B in ROI if we close the gender funding gap
ā Women-led startups are scaling smarter
ā Clean energy, carbon markets, and ESGāthis is where fintech grows next
Iām teaming up with Bhuva Shakti to launch something different.
Not just a summit. A strategy session for whatās next.
Want in?
Weāre looking for sponsors, speakers, and builders. Reach out.
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That wraps up todayās editionāthanks for reading! Until next week, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. See you Tuesday!
Love,
Nicole š