Chime almost died in 2016, turned down by 100 VCs — today it IPO’d at $14.5B

One of the year’s most anticipated IPOs took place on Thursday when neobank Chime raised $864 million in its IPO, pricing its shares at $27, which is above its previously announced range of $24 to $26. That gave it a starting market cap of about $9.8 billion.

While some would point out that this is far below its last private valuation of $25 billion, according to PitchBook’s estimates, shares opened at $42, putting it at $14.5 by midday in heavy trading, according to Yahoo Finance. It closed the day at $37 and about a $12 billion market cap….