The expansion marks the San Francisco-based fintech firm’s first office outside the U.S. and is staffed—remotely, for now—by the company’s engineering team, with plans to add several other departments. Chime is also legally incorporated in Canada as Chime Financial Canada. (BetaKit)

Talking point: Chime, an online banking service, offers a spending and savings account, as well as a credit card. It raised US$1.54 billion as of mid-October, according to PitchBook, and had a post-money valuation of US$14.55 billion. The company’s platform is only available in the U.S., but co-founder and CTO Ryan King said Canada would be a natural fit for an international expansion, which he said was not inconceivable. There’s a slew of domestic competitors in the fintech space, including Wealthsimple and Koho. Chime is one of several U.S. companies moving into Vancouver. Silicon Valley Bank announced last month it would expand its Canadian operations with a Vancouver outpost and appointed a director of technology banking for Western Canada.