Auto lending fintech Lendbuzz files for IPO

• Key Insight: Lendbuzz is the latest fintech to join a resurging IPO market.
• Supporting Data: Lendbuzz H1 2025 revenue $172.9 million (38% YoY); net income $11.1 million (98% YoY).
• Forward Look: Lendbuzz is anticipating changes to immigration policy as a potential risk factor for its IPO, and a different auto lender serving immigrants filed for bankruptcy this week.

The AI-powered auto fintech lender Lendbuzz filed an S-1 prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. Lendbuzz applied to list its stocks on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "LBZZ," according to the filing.

The company has not yet announced the amount of common stock to be offered and the price range. The Boston-based auto lending fintech is targeting a valuation of around $1.5 billion, as originally reported by CNBC.

Lendbuzz is joining several other fintechs in going public during a hot IPO summer. The neobank Chime and stablecoin issuer Circle started the wave when they went public in June of this year. Wealth management fintech Wealthfront and U.K.-based payments company Wise also filed for U.S. IPOs in June but have not yet gone public.

Just this week, BNPL provider Klarna debuted on the NYSE Wednesday and crypto exchange Gemini opened its first day of trading at Nasdaq on Friday after announcing their IPOs earlier this month.

Lendbuzz underwrites auto loans for "underserved consumers" with limited to no traditional credit history, as well as for consumers with FICO scores, according to its filing. The company mentioned immigration policy concerns among its potential risk factors. 

"Some of our consumers are immigrants and some may not be U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens," the filing read. "We follow appropriate consumer identification procedures as mandated by law, including accepting government issued picture identification that may be issued by non-U.S. governments, as permitted by the USA Patriot Act, but we do not verify the immigration status of our consumers, which we believe is consistent with industry best practices and is not required by law." 

The company did not disclose how many of its customers are not U.S. citizens, but it did state that "as of December 31, 2024, approximately 42% of our customers had a FICO score. Of those with a FICO score, the weighted average FICO score was 680. Additionally, as of December 31, 2024, 83% of our consumers have no credit file or a thin credit file."

Lendbuzz reported a 38% increase in revenue in the first half of 2025, according to its S-1 filing. The fintech reported $172.9 million in revenue, compared with $125.4 million for the first half of 2024. 

For net income the company reported $11.1 million for the first half of 2025, a 98% increase over the $5.6 million in net income from the first half of 2024.

The offering is being managed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase and RBC Capital Markets. None of the firms immediately responded to a request for comment on the IPO.

Lendbuzzs' IPO comes into the auto lending market shortly after a different auto lender, Tricolor, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier this week due to alleged fraud. Tricolor is a subprime auto lender that carved out a niche in lending to undocumented Hispanic immigrants looking to buy used cars.