Kalshi reaches an $11 billion valuation after closing a $1 billion funding round

Kalshi — a prediction market where users can wager on future events — has secured a staggering $1 billion funding round at an $11 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the transaction. The raise comes less than two months after the seven-year-old company announced a $300 million round at a $5 billion valuation.

The latest investment is led by returning backers Sequoia and CapitalG, the source said. Kalshi’s investor roster also includes Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Anthos Capital, and Neo.

Meanwhile, Kalshi’s chief competitor, Polymarket, was reportedly in discussions last month to raise additional capital at a valuation between $12 billion and $15 billion—just weeks after closing a $1 billion round at an $8 billion pre-money valuation, according to Bloomberg.

Interest in both platforms surged last year after they enabled users to place bets on the presidential election. Their visibility grew even further when they accurately forecast the outcome of New York City’s mayoral race earlier this month.

During the Mamdani–Cuomo contest, Kalshi bought advertising space in New York City subway cars, installing live screens that updated in real time with each candidate’s odds—an attention-grabbing campaign that significantly boosted its profile among commuters.

Kalshi’s platform, available in more than 140 countries, lets users wager on a wide range of future events — from who Time will select as its 2025 Person of the Year and the Rotten Tomatoes score for Wicked, to long-range political outcomes such as the next U.S. presidential winner.

In mid-October, the company hit $50 billion in annualized trading volume, a jump of more than a thousandfold from about $300 million the year prior, according to The New York Times.

Founded by former hedge fund traders Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara — who met at MIT while studying computer science and mathematics — Kalshi operates in a space historically fraught with regulatory scrutiny, as prediction markets often fall between financial products and gambling.

After winning a lawsuit against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last year, Kalshi secured the ability to operate in the U.S., but it still faces legal battles with several state regulators who argue that its activities amount to illegal gambling.

Polymarket, which has been prohibited from serving U.S. users since a 2022 settlement with the CFTC, acquired a derivatives exchange and clearinghouse in July. That acquisition paved the way for its return to the U.S. market. In September, CEO and founder Shayne Coplan announced on X that the CFTC had given Polymarket approval to operate in the United States.