Trump's Tariffs Just Slammed The IPO Window Shut For Fintech

The long-awaited flurry of fintech initial public offerings may have just gotten further delayed. This time, it’s due to a market selloff sparked by former President Donald Trump's new trade tariffs.

What Happened: According to The Wall Street Journal, Klarna and Chime are both holding off on public listings.

Just a day earlier, Plaid announced a $535 million capital raise at a $6 billion valuation—less than half its 2021 peak of $13.5 billion.

The signs are clear: for late-stage fintech companies, the public markets are no longer a welcome exit. Investors punished stocks this week, reacting sharply to tariff-related uncertainty, rising inflation expectations, and a risk-off shift.

Klarna, a consumer lending platform, had reportedly aimed for a $15 billion valuation. Chime, a mobile banking app, was targeting around $25 billion.

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Why It Matters: The recent selloff wasn't just a routine correction but a reaction to geopolitical tension. Trump's new tariffs spooked global investors, pulling tech and fintech stocks into a tailspin. That kind of volatility makes pricing new IPOs nearly impossible for underwriters.

Affirm Holdings Inc. AFRM, often seen as Klarna's closest U.S. peer, fell more than 15% after the news. The market is once again de-risking, favoring cash flow and defensibility over growth-at-all-costs—a narrative many consumer fintech firms can't support right now.

After a brutal freeze in 2022 and 2023, fintech insiders had high hopes for a 2025 revival. Interest rates were stabilizing, inflation was cooling, and tech stocks rallied after Trump's reelection in November.

Early investors and employees at unicorns like Chime, Klarna, and Plaid were eager for liquidity after nearly a decade of staying private. On the buy-side, hedge funds, private equity, and crossover investors were showing fresh appetite for fintech, even scooping up under-the-radar deals in Q1.

It was shaping up to be a domino year—if one IPO popped, others like Stripe, Ramp, and Brex could follow.

But now, the opposite seems likely. With global markets tanking on fears of an escalating trade war, the IPO window is once again shut.

What’s Next: The message is clear for late-stage fintech startups: stay private longer. Companies that were expected to file S-1s this summer are now pursuing bridge rounds, structured equity, or flat-down private raises to buy more time.

But the clock is ticking. Investor pressure for exits is building, especially from employees holding illiquid equity. These companies will eventually need to go public—it's just a question of when, and how much pain they'll have to endure when they do.

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