Chime Financial waited years to go public and ended its first day of trading on Thursday with a $16.1 billion valuation. That’s 36% lower than the $25 billion valuation Chime snagged in 2021, when it was a buzzy fintech unicorn. 

Still, the Chime IPO is being celebrated as a win for the company—and more importantly, as a clear signal that the public equities market has cracked open for new issues, especially those in the fintech category.

Dan Dolev, a senior analyst in fintech equity research at Mizuho Securities, said the IPO market is open for fintechs. “There is a lot of thirst for fintech IPOs. If you are going to do a fintech IPO, this is the Chime,” Dolev quipped. 

Shares of Chime opened Thursday at $43, up 59% from its $27 offer price. The stock soared to an intraday high of $44.94 before losing momentum, closing at $37.11.

Shawn Carolan, a partner at Menlo Ventures who led the venture firm’s investment in Chime, said he was proud of the fintech’s performance. “Any time you price above the range and trade up, it’s a good day,” Carolan said.

Menlo Ventures, along with Chime’s management, are not selling shares in the IPO. “The companies that are good you want to hold on to,” he said.

Founded in 2012, Chime offers traditional financial services, like fee-free checking and savings accounts, to lower income U.S. consumers that earn up to $100,000 a year. The startup had 8.6 million active members as of March 31, with two-thirds relying on Chime as their primary bank, according to a regulatory filing. Roughly 70% of its members use Chime to buy food, groceries, gas, and utilities.

Chime is building a generational financial services company, said COO Mark Troughton, who spoke to Fortune from the Nasdaq. “We knew from day one that we wanted to be public. It’s time to execute in the public market,” he said.

Chime is one of several companies, including eToro, Hinge Health, and MNTN, that have recently delivered strong debuts. Many have retained those gains in the aftermarket. But it’s the breakout performance of crypto firm Circle that renewed investor appetite for high growth tech companies. Last week, Circle rocketed 168% in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange after raising $1.05 billion with its IPO. Circle’s stock continued to gain in later trading sessions and is currently up 243% from its $31 offer price.

Chime’s more modest first-day pop came after the neobank raised $864 million late Wednesday. The fintech sold 32 million shares at $27 each, $1 above its $24 to $26 price range. Of the 32 million shares, about 6.1 million are coming from shareholders while the company is providing the rest.

Chime could’ve gone public “way earlier” but had to wait for the markets to settle down for the IPO window to open, Menlo Ventures’ Carolan said. IPOs have largely been on hold since the go-go days of 2021, when 397 companies went public using a traditional IPO. But their dismal performance, roughly 80% of the Class of 2021 are still trading below their offer price, cast a pall on new issues. Since late 2021, the number of IPOs has slowed down significantly.

Carolan thinks the IPO market is open for great companies. Strong companies like Chime can go public in any market, he said. “It remains to be seen if the market is receptive to much smaller companies that are less profitable or growing slower,” he said.

See you Monday,

Luisa Beltran
X: @LuisaRBeltran
Email: luisa.beltran@fortune.com
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Venture Deals

- SpliceBio, a Barcelona-based protein splicing genetic medicines company, raised $135 million in Series B funding. EQT Life Sciences and Sanofi Ventures led the round and were joined by Roche Venture Fund, existing investors New Enterprise Associates, UCB Ventures, Ysios Capital, and all other existing investors.

- Canary Technologies, a San Francisco-based hotel guest management technology company, raised $80 million in Series D funding. Brighton Park Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Insight Partners, F-Prime Capital, Thayer Ventures, and others.

- Nominal, a Los Angeles-based software testing solution for defense, aerospace, and energy, raised $75 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and others.

- Knowunity, a Berlin-based AI-powered student learning platform, raised €27 million ($31.3 million) in Series B funding. XAnge led the round and was joined by Portfolion, Isomer Capital, Project A, angel investors, and others.

- Landbase, a San Francisco, Calif.-based agentic AI go-to-market platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Sound Ventures and existing investor Picus Capital led the round and were joined by existing investors 8VC, A*, Firstminute Capital, and TheGP.

- Autonomize AI, an Austin-based AI-powered healthcare solutions provider, raised $28 million in Series A funding. Valtruis, The Cigna Group Ventures, Tau Ventures, and others led the round and were joined by existing investors Asset Management Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Capital Factory, and others.

- Commons Clinic, a Los Angeles-based preventative healthcare platform, raised $26 million in Series B funding. RA Capital led the round and was joined by Floating Point, SteelSky Ventures, Time BioVentures, and others.

- Tracksuit, an Auckland, New Zealand-based brand tracking platform, raised $25 million in Series B funding. VMG Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Altos Ventures, Footwork, Blackbird, and Icehouse Ventures.

- Shinkei Systems, a Los Angeles-based seafood supply chain technology company, raised $22 million in Series A funding. Founders Fund and Interlagos led the round and were joined by Yamato Holdings, Shrug, CIV, and others.

- Parallel Bio, a Cambridge, Mass.-based drug discovery company, raised $21 million in Series A funding. AIX Ventures led the round and was joined by Amplo, Marc Benioff, and existing investors Metaplanet, Humba Ventures, Atypical Ventures, and others.

- CloudQuery, a New York City-based cloud governance platform for developers, raised $16 million in funding. Partech led the round and was joined by existing investors Boldstart, Tiger Global, and Work-Bench.

- Try Your Best, a San Francisco-based digital rewards platform for brands, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Offline Ventures and Strobe Ventures led the round and were joined by Coinbase Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, and Unusual Ventures.

- Iterate.ai, a San Jose and Denver-based enterprise AI solutions developer, raised $6.4 million in funding. Auxier Asset Management led the round and was joined by Peter Cobb, Mike Edwards, and Dave Zentmyer.

- Olyzon, a New York City and Paris-based agentic AI CTV advertising platform, raised $3.8 million in seed extension funding. Cassius Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Ventech, Eurazeo, and angel investors.

- Clara Home Care, a San Francisco-based in-home senior caregivers hiring platform, raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Torch Capital, Virtue, and Y Combinator led the round and were joined by angel investors.

- Lemony, a New York City-based on-premise AI device, raised $2 million in seed funding. True Ventures led the round and was joined by Alumni Ventures, JetBrains, and angel investors.

- Innovative Pet Lab, a Norcross, Ga.-based at-home pet health tests provider, raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding. Nordic Group led the round and was joined by Leap Venture Studio.

Private Equity

- Equality Asset Management acquired and combined Rhoads Online Institute, a New York City-based compliance software provider for the insurance industry; Elation Systems, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based compliance management solutions provider for government agencies, businesses, and contractors; and Advanced GRC, a New York City-based licensing, permitting, compliance, and other services provider for government agencies, to form Auctivo, a New York City-based governance, risk, and compliance software provider for government agencies and highly regulated industries.

- Herringbone Digital, backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, acquired Hennessey Digital, a North Hollywood, Calif.-based digital marketing agency for law firms. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Exits

- Atlas Vineyard Management, a portfolio company of Juggernaut Capital Partners, acquired Results Partners, a McMinnville, Ore.-based vineyard management company, from Clearview Capital.

- DELABIE Group acquired KWC Professional, an Unterkulm, Switzerland-based sanitary equipment company, from Equistone Partners Europe. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

- Automattic acquired Clay, a New York City-based relationship management platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Orangewood Partners acquired a majority stake in Motley 7 Brew, a Fayetteville, Ark.-based 7 Brew coffee brand franchisee. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- Merlin Ventures, a Tel Aviv-based venture capital firm, raised $75 million for its first fund focused on cybersecurity.

PEOPLE

- Geodesic Capital, a Foster City, Calif.-based venture capital firm, added Tom Gillespie and Rayfe Gaspar-Asaoka as partners to lead the firm’s new Alliance Fund. Previously, Gillespie was at In-Q-Tel, and Gaspar-Asaoka was at Canaan Partners.