Digital banking startup Chime started its Chicago presence with just three employees in 2019, growing to six by the time the coronavirus pandemic forced offices to close their doors.
But the San Francisco-based company continued to grow its local head count in the last two years, expanding to around 200 Chicago workers. And it's about to open a new Chicago office in the Fulton Market neighborhood to hold its growing local footprint.
Later this quarter, Chime will open a new 26,000-square-foot office at 333 N. Green St., where it will occupy two floors in the West Loop building, said Amy Silverman, Chime's director of business operations and recruiting. It plans to continue hiring locally as the company is "definitely still in a growth phase," Silverman said. Silverman said the Chicago space will take a hybrid approach for employees, allowing them to work full-time from the office, at home or a mix of the two.
Chime's Chicago office is the company's third physical outpost, along with its Bay Area headquarters and an office in Vancouver. Silverman said the company chose Chicago for an office given its growing tech hub and access to talent.
"For us, it's always been in the back of our minds as a place that we really wanted to have those roots," she said.
The company, founded in 2012, raised funding at a $25 billion valuation in 2021. Chime had plans to go pubic, but shelved the IPO as tech stocks have tumbled in recent months.
