tl;dr
Prediction market startup Kalshi raised $185 million in a Series C round led by Paradigm, reaching a $2 billion valuation and achieving unicorn status. Other investors included Sequoia, Multicoin, Peng Zhao, Neo, and Bond Capital. The funds will support technology growth and broker integration. Kals...
Prediction market startup Kalshi has raised $185 million in a Series C funding round led by Paradigm, bringing its valuation to $2 billion and officially making it a unicorn. Investors in this round also included Sequoia, Multicoin, Peng Zhao, Neo, and Bond Capital. The influx of capital will support technological development and the integration of broker services.
Kalshi has been expanding its product offerings, especially in the arena of event contracts on U.S. political races, following approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The company also integrated cryptocurrency payments, now accepting Bitcoin, USDC, Worldcoin, and Solana, through a partnership with ZeroHash. This move marks Kalshi’s strategic push into the crypto marketplace.
The platform has experienced significant trading volumes, with election-related markets surpassing $875 million in total volume, and a recent contract on the New York City mayoral primary generating over $16 million. This growth reflects the increasing appetite among traders for event contract markets. Kalshi’s rapid rise parallels the expansion of competitors like Polymarket, which boasts over $3 billion in trading volume for U.S. presidential election pools, and newer entrants like Myriad Markets launched by DASTAN.
Kalshi’s CEO, Tarek Mansour, celebrated the funding milestone as a testament to the company's ambition and the mainstream acceptance of prediction markets. After raising $50 million at a $787 million valuation in late 2024, Kalshi’s swift climb to a $2 billion valuation underscores robust demand and innovation within this fast-growing sector of financial markets and crypto integration.