Latest news with #DavidGolden
CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Chime's IPO will test public market appetite for fintech as companies line up to exit
There's a mini-boom happening in fintech. After a multi-year IPO slowdown triggered by rising rates and valuation resets, some of the emerging players in online stock trading, banking, lending and crypto-related services are hitting the public market, or at least preparing for a debut. The next test of Wall Street's enthusiasm is expected to come on Thursday, when Chime is slated to start trading on the Nasdaq. The provider of online banking services offered a price range of $24 to $26 a share, which would equate to a market cap of about $9.1 billion in the middle of the range, though that number would be higher on a fully diluted basis. The IPO pricing is scheduled for later Wednesday. That's a big step down from where venture investors like Sequoia Capital valued the company in Chime's last fundraising round in 2021, when private tech markets were raging. The reported valuation at the time was $25 billion, and Chime's IPO prospectus says the share price was $69. It's a dynamic that's playing out across the industry, as tech executives and investors reckon with a new reality. David Golden, a longtime fintech investor and partner at Revolution Ventures, said that in 2021, capital was so abundant that "equity was basically free," making it possible to sell stock "for any price under any circumstances." "You saw a valuation reset in the market," said Golden, who previously led JPMorgan Chase's tech investment banking practice. Now the window appears to be open, and "they basically said, 'Look, we don't really need the money, but we think it's time,'" Golden said. A Chime spokesperson declined to comment. There are reasons for optimism. Lat month, trading app eToro debuted on the market and jumped 29% on its first day, though the stock hasn't done much since. That same week Mike Novogratz's crypto firm Galaxy Digital finally made its U.S. debut, uplisting from the TSX. Then came crypto company Circle, whose blockbuster listing helped solidify what now looks like a true reopening of the fintech IPO market. Circle is trading at over $118 for a market cap of $26 billion, after pricing its offering at $31. Others are on the horizon. Klarna, a provider of buy now, pay later loans, filed its prospectus in March but then delayed its offering a month later after President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs roiled markets. The company hasn't provided an update on its timing, but in May reported nearly $100 million in quarterly losses. Gemini, the crypto firm founded by the Winklevoss twins, said last week that it confidentially filed for an IPO. Bullish, a crypto exchange backed by Peter Thiel, has also filed confidentially for an IPO, according to a report on Tuesday from the Financial Times. Going public for companies like Chime requires a recognition that the market has fundamentally changed from where it was a few years ago. For Sequoia, SoftBank and Tiger Global, who all wrote checks in Chime's 2021 financing round, that means taking a haircut on that investment and hoping Wall Street helps them recover. Stripe, the most highly valued U.S. fintech, has almost gotten back up to its peak. After raising at a $95 billion valuation in 2021, the company slashed that number by almost half to $50 billion in 2023. Early this year, it climbed back to $91.5 in a tender offer for employees and shareholders. But Stripe has shown no urgency to hit the public market, as it's able to regularly hold secondary offerings. For Chime, revenue in the latest quarter climbed 32% from a year earlier to $518.7 million. Net income narrowed to $12.9 million from $15.9 million a year ago. "They believe there's enough support in the public markets to raise meaningful capital and gain an acquisition currency to go out and acquire other companies," Golden said. Even with the lowered valuation, Chime's IPO will still create big paydays for earlier backers like DST Global and Crosslink Capital, the biggest outside investors in the company. Silicon Valley investors are desperate for returns after an extended drought. While exits for venture firms in the first quarter hit their highest quarterly value since the fourth quarter of 2021, nearly 40% came from a single IPO, according to the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook. That IPO was CoreWeave, a provider of artificial intelligence infrastructure. Ryan Gilbert, general partner at Launchpad Capital, said "sponsors and advisors are very realistic" about the market conditions and "realize the window is open." "But I don't think they know how high the window is up from the floor," Gilbert said. "And I think would much rather get the IPO done and start trading than risk aggressive pricing." He said that Chime is a business that spent a lot of money on luring customers, which is a big challenge for smaller companies that lack universal brand recognition. According to its prospectus, Chime paid the NBA's Dallas Mavericks roughly $33 million over three years to have its logo worn as a patch on player jerseys. Chime now has to prove it can take advantage of all that marketing spend and retain customers as it competes with incumbents like Square, PayPal and SoFi. While Chime isn't a bank, most of its services sit at the core of consumer banking. It primarily generates revenue through interchange-based fees on debit and credit card transactions. "It's pretty simplistic," said Dan Dolev, an analyst at Mizuho. "I'm actually surprised by how unsophisticated that business model is." How well the market receives that model and Chime's story could have a big influence on the rest of the fintech space. "I think they're going to look at Chime as a potential canary in the coal mine," Golden said. "If it goes well — and you'll know that in the next two to three months — I think you'll see much more receptivity" from other companies in the pipeline, he said. "If it doesn't go well," Golden added, "I think they'll continue just to sit on their hands and wait it out."
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Police: Stolen car crashes into 2 vehicles in Frederick, driver flown to hospital
FREDERICK, Md. () — A stolen car crashed into two vehicles before overturning in Frederick last week, impacting traffic in the area for over two hours, police said Tuesday. At around 1:50 p.m. on Friday, May 23, officers from the Frederick Police Department responded to N Market Street at Routzahn Way for a collision. At the scene, they learned that a Honda Pilot, driven by a 22-year-old man from Woodbridge, Va., tried to make a left turn onto Routzahn Way when it struck two southbound vehicles and overturned, according to the Frederick Police Department. Police noted that the Honda was speeding, had been reported stolen in a neighboring county, and had just been involved in a hit-and-run crash in downtown Frederick. Black bear spotted in Langley Park area on Memorial Day Maryland State Police flew the 22-year-old Honda driver, who was seriously injured, to the hospital for treatment. Another driver was also taken to the hospital; however, police said they had minor injuries. As a result of the crash, a portion of N Market Street and Routzahn Way was closed to traffic for about two and a half hours as officers investigated. At this time, it is unclear if the Honda driver is facing any charges, and there is no word on their condition. DC News Now reached out to Frederick police but has not yet heard back. Authorities urge anyone with information or who witnessed the crash to contact Cpl. David Golden at 301-600-6218 or DGolden@ Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Vox
11-04-2025
- Health
- Vox
The freaky part of allergy season that no one warned you about
is a correspondent at Vox writing about climate change, energy policy, and science. He is also a regular contributor to the radio program Science Friday. Prior to Vox, he was a reporter for ClimateWire at E&E News. Pollen allergy season is getting longer and more intense as the climate changes, creating more misery for allergy sufferers. But it's not the only type of allergy threat getting worse with warming. There are other allergens, like mold spores, whose spread coincides with higher temperatures and weather disruption. But one of the most insidious and underrated dangers is now coming from stinging and biting insects. These wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, and bees are showing up in new areas and in greater numbers as more places become suitable for their hives, nests, and colonies. Insect allergies are much less common than pollen sensitivity across the population, but they can cause severe, deadly complications, and they are far less studied. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on average, 72 people in the United States died from insect allergies per year over the past decade. But insect allergies send thousands of people to the emergency room every year, and millions of people live with the fear that the next insect that lands on them could ruin their day. 'From a public health point of view, it's been heavily underserved,' said David Golden, an allergy researcher and part-time faculty at Johns Hopkins University. The result is that many people are experiencing allergic reactions from insects for the first time, sometimes unsure of where they're coming from. Many doctors are also unaware of how to diagnose and treat insect allergies. And as the climate changes, the allergy threat from arthropods is likely to get worse. Why insect allergies are on the rise Changes in the climate are making the world more welcoming for insects that bite and sting. Warmer winters and earlier springs mean more critters like yellow jackets and hornets survive the cooler seasons and emerge early in the year in greater numbers. And as temperatures continue to rise, previously inhospitable parts of the country are becoming habitable for insects, allowing species like fire ants to migrate further north. How to navigate our buggier world Allergies from stinging insects are getting worse as the climate changes, but there are some things you can do to keep your symptoms manageable. • Reduce skin exposure with shoes, socks, and long sleeves. • Inspect the grass, shrubs, and nooks around your home for nests. • Most insect repellent products don't work on the most worrisome stinging insects, so it's best to avoid the places where they live. • Some pain, redness, and itchiness after a bite or sting is normal, but you should get medical help if you experience larger rashes, dizziness, trouble breathing, swelling around the mouth, or stomach pain. • Talk to an allergy specialist if you suspect you have an insect allergy. • If you are allergic, develop a treatment plan and an emergency plan with your doctor. That's bad news for the 3 percent of adults and 1 percent of children who have insect allergies. Stinging insect venom in particular is notorious for causing anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction where blood pressure plummets and airways swell, making it difficult to breathe. And most people don't know that they're allergic until they've been bitten or stung. Golden explained that there are three broad categories of insects that concern allergy specialists: bees, wasps, and ants. People who have insect allergies are not necessarily allergic to all of them, and even within these groups, someone can react to one variety but not another. There are treatments such as immunotherapy that can protect an allergy sufferer from insect sting complications, but they often provide relief from the bite of just a specific kind of insect. That was evident in Europe in recent years with the arrival of the invasive Asian hornet. 'They were reporting that even people who were known to be allergic to yellow jackets and hornets were getting the allergy shots — venom immunotherapy — to protect them and they were stung by yellow jackets and hornets and they were fine,' Golden said. 'But when they got stung by this Asian hornet, they had anaphylaxis all over again. It's another allergy.' In the US, fire ants are also a major concern for allergy sufferers. This is an aggressive, hardy invasive species that took root in the warm climate of the southern and southeastern US, but is gradually moving northward. Their range now reaches Virginia, and they sporadically pop up in Maryland. Strictly speaking, ticks are not insects, but they are also moving further north as the climate warms. The spread of the lone star tick is particularly concerning because it can trigger a dangerous allergy condition known as alpha-gal syndrome. When the tick bites a host, it transmits a sugar that makes victims react to red meat like beef, pork, and lamb, as well as products made from mammals. Climate change is also helping spread the ticks that carry Lyme disease. Alaska is a window into the future of seasonal allergies All of these factors are converging in America's largest state, which is warming up to three times faster than the global average. And since the climate there is starting from such a cold baseline, many residents are encountering allergy triggers for the first time the hard way. 'We did a study that showed the further north you went, the higher the prevalence of people seeking health care, urgent care for stinging events,' said Jeffrey Demain, an allergist in Anchorage, Alaska, and clinical professor at the University of Washington. 'With milder winters, you have more survival of the hibernaculum, so the queens, they come out in the spring, and they're already impregnated.' Alaska is also getting walloped hard by pollen and mold. 'Birch pollen levels can become incredibly high here,' Demain said. 'In fact, we oftentimes are the highest in the world. We kind of trade off between Finland, Sweden, and Alaska as far as who has the highest levels.' Sensitivity to pollen can also trigger reactions to certain fruits, vegetables, and nuts, a phenomenon known as pollen food allergy syndrome or oral allergy syndrome. And as warmer air moves in, there's a growing shift from snow to rain, as well as an increase in intense rain events. More rain means more humidity, which means more mold, which in turn causes major problems for buildings in Alaska built to insulate against the cold. Related 4 tips for dealing with a ferocious allergy season There are other environmental threats mixed into all this as well. Alaska has seen an increase in large wildfires in recent years and is projected to burn more as average temperatures rise. These fires send huge clouds of smoke and ash into Alaska's cities, towns, and villages. 'Even though that might not be in your immediate area, it causes a tremendous amount of pollution, and the particulates in the air can travel long, long distances,' Demain said. The degraded air quality can irritate airways and make people more susceptible to allergens. It shows that allergies don't exist in a vacuum and that climate change can create health problems that intersect and exacerbate each other. Looking at allergies alone doesn't tell the whole story about the magnitude of the threat. It also shows that it's essential to slow the underlying changes to the climate by reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in order to tamp down on the dangers of future allergies and related complications. Explain It to Me The Explain It to Me newsletter answers an interesting question from an audience member in a digestible explainer from one of our journalists. 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