- What is Chime, and how does Chime work?
- How does Chime make money?
- Interchange Fees From Merchants
- Chime’s Subsidiaries, Acquisitions, and Exits
- Chime’s profit and revenue
- What is the Chime business and revenue model?
- Chime’s funding and valuation
How does Chime make money if there are no fees? Here is a full breakdown of their main revenue stream, as well as the Chime business model, their year-over-year revenue, and how Chime works.
What is Chime, and how does Chime work?
Chime is a financial services company that provides “fee-free” mobile banking services to account holders.
To be clear, Chime is not a bank. All Chime banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, Member FDIC.
Founded in 2013 by Chris Britt and Ryan King, Chime now has more than 12 million customers with a Chime checking account and over $5.8 billion assets under management.
How Chime works is: There are no minimums to opening a checking account with Chime. Once customers open an account, they will enjoy “fee-free” banking as well as receiving a Visa issued debit card that can be used at 60,000+ fee-free ATMs.
Some of Chime’s competitors include Varo Money, Ally, Dave, Acorns, SoFi, Robinhood, Stash, Betterment, and other challenger banks.
How does Chime make money?
Chime has over 12 million active customers with bank accounts as of February 2021 according to a Forbes article. As well as over $5.8 billion assets under management. So how does Chime make money off of all those account holders and assets under management?
Below is a breakdown of how much money Chime makes and its revenue model. Including all revenue streams and how much they charge for their services.
Here is how Chime makes money (in 2021):
Chime has a revenue model that makes money in only one (1) way – interchange fees.
#1. Interchange Fees From Merchants
Chime makes all of its money through interchange fees.
What are interchange fees? These are fees paid between banks for the acceptance of card-based transactions. So, whenever cardholders use their Chime Visa issued debit card, Chime receives a portion of the interchange fee Visa charges the merchants.
The interchange fee that Visa charges merchants ranges between 1.15% + $0.05 to 2.40% + $0.10 of the charge amount.
Note: It’s unclear what percentage Chime receives from Visa.
Chime’s Subsidiaries, Acquisitions, and Exits
To date, Chime Financial, Inc. has made a total of 2 acquisitions.
Chime’s profit and revenue
Chime’s last reported income came in 2019. In 2019, Chime reported $200 million in revenue.
Note: Because Chime Financial, Inc. is a privately held company, they are not required to make their annual reporting, such as Form 10-K’s, pubic.
What is the Chime business and revenue model?
Chime makes money through a few revenue models that they combine within their company, they are:
- Fee-for-service (FFS) business model
- B2B2C (partnerships) business model
- Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) business model
Chime’s funding and valuation
According to Chime’s Crunchbase profile, Chime has raised $2.6 billion over 10 rounds and is estimated to have a valuation of $25 billion as of August 2021.
