KALSHI'S VALUATION DOUBLES ON STRONG INTEREST IN PREDICTION MARKETS PLATFORMS

Dec 2 (Reuters) - Kalshi said on Tuesday it had raised $1 billion in a financing round, more than doubling its valuation at $11 billion in about two months, as interest in prediction market platforms mounts.

The platforms allow users worldwide to trade binary contracts on outcomes in politics, sports, economics and entertainment. The model has drawn strong backing for its event‑based trading and risk management approach.

To get a piece of the pie, several others in the sector have tapped into similar offerings, with trading platform Robinhood launching a prediction markets hub in its app earlier this year.

Kalshi secured $300 million nearly two months ago in a round led by Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz at a valuation of $5 billion.

The company's biggest competitor, Polymarket, was reportedly in talks in October to raise capital at a valuation between $12 billion and $15 billion.

"Kalshi's exponential growth shows the scale of latent demand for prediction markets as a new asset class — from institutions to everyday people," said Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner at Paradigm, in a statement.

Besides valuation, the company's business has also shown robust growth, with trading volumes now topping $1 billion weekly, rising more than 1,000% from 2024, according to the company.

The latest financing round follows Kalshi's successful court challenge against the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, after which the startup gained approval to list contracts related to the presidential election.

The series E round also saw participation from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Meritech Capital, IVP, ARK Invest, Anthos Capital, CapitalG and Y Combinator.

Kalshi said it will use the capital to speed up consumer adoption, add brokerages, pursue media partnerships and expand its product lineup.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

2025-12-02T16:07:55Z