- Key insights: Chime reached GAAP profitability in Q1, with revenue increasing 25% year over year and active users jumping 19% to 10.2 million users.
- What's at stake: Wall Street has been waiting for Chime to hit GAAP profitability after its blockbuster
initial public offering a year ago . - Forward look: Chime raised its full-year 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance and now expects revenue to land between $2.66 billion and $2.69 billion, representing a year-over-year growth rate between 22% and 23%.
Chime has finally reached GAAP profitability.
The neobank logged $647 million in revenue, an increase of 25% year over year, with payments revenue growing 15% to $433 million and platform-related revenue increasing 15% to $215 million, the company said in its first-quarter earnings report.
Net income landed at $53 million, or 13 cents per diluted share. Analysts on Wall Street expected a net income of $10.7 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, according to S&P Capital IQ.
"We're off to a strong start in 2026, exceeding the high end of our revenue guidance, delivering strong incremental margins, and achieving our first quarter of GAAP profitability as a public company, co-founder and CEO Chris Britt said in a prepared statement. "We also reached 10.2 million active members, with more Americans opening bank accounts with Chime than any other financial institution, putting us more than 50% ahead of our closest competitor."
The number of active members grew 19% year over year, with average revenue per active member increasing 5% to $263. Purchase volume grew 12% to $39 billion, not including outbound instant transfer revenue.
Chime raised its full-year 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance, and now expects revenue to land between $2.66 billion and $2.69 billion, representing a year-over-year growth rate between 22% and 23%. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to come in between $416 million and $431 million.
For the second quarter, Chime expects revenue between $633 million to $643 million, representing year-over-year growth rates between 20% and 22%. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $72 to $77 million. The company's board also approved an additional $200 million share repurchase program.
The quarter was marked by the launch of Chime Prime, the company's
"Early results show Chime Prime is increasing direct deposit intent and improving retention among existing direct depositors," Chime said in a release. "Prime members are also adopting Chime Card at higher rates than non-Prime members, accelerating the shift from debit to credit spend."
Nearly half of members are now using Chime Card, the fintech's secured credit card, on a monthly basis. The share of total payment volume on credit grew to nearly 25% in March, up from 16% in September.
MyPay, Chime's earned wage access product, logged more than $400 million in annualized revenue in Q1, and its small-dollar loan product Instant Loans originated $180 million during the quarter.
"With the launch of Chime Prime, our new premium membership tier, we're demonstrating accelerating product velocity powered by our ChimeCore technology stack," Britt said. "We're well positioned to build on this momentum with more products to help our members unlock greater financial progress."
Last quarter, B Riley Securities analysts said that Chime was at an inflection point of a "substantial move higher in margins over the next several years," thanks to multiple tailwinds.
"The customer base is growing and highly engaged, with average transactions on the platform of 55 times per month," the analysts said. "Product tailwinds include the Chime card, which is mixing take rate higher, variable pricing for MyPay, which is scaling monetization, and instant loans with improving unit economics."
