15. Chime

Founders: Chris Britt (CEO), Ryan King
Launched: 2012
Headquarters: San Francisco
Funding: $2.3 billion
Valuation: $25 billion
Key technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing
Industry: Fintech
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 3 (No. 12 in 2022)

Like many fintechs, Chime has homed in on the consumer distrust and dissatisfaction with traditional banks, offering fee-free banking, early paydays for those with direct-deposit and a feature that lets users go negative in their accounts without overdraft fees. 

It has found success focusing on U.S. customers who haven’t traditionally been served well by the standard bricks-and-mortar banks, especially millennials who make between $35,000 to $70,000 a year and are more likely to be frustrated by fees than those who can afford to maintain higher balances. Chime is aiming to grow with those younger members as they move through the workforce and wealth accumulation stages of life, adding features that help to build credit scores and access to high-yield savings accounts.

Several years of success for fintechs resulted in a significant disruption of the traditional banking industry and significant responses from big players in the space. Chime has been very much at the center of that, with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said to be particularly enamored with the company and its growth, leading to the rise – and eventual fintech growing pains – for Goldman’s own online Marcus product.

The pandemic supercharged the sector. Chime, which was valued at $1.5 billion in 2019, reached a valuation of $25 billion in 2021. The company became profitable on an EBITDA basis during the pandemic, co-founder and CEO Chris Britt told CNBC in September 2020.

But the worsening economic outlook and startup contraction hasn’t spared fintechs, both private and public companies. Former bank fintech Disruptors that have gone public, such as Dave and Nu Holdings, have suffered as publicly traded stocks. Chime was among the companies expected to have pursued an IPO by now, but it has been waiting out a frozen market for new offerings. In November, Chime laid off 12% of its workforce, or about 160 people, in a move that Britt said would help the company thrive “regardless of market conditions.”