Prediction market Kalshi raises $1 billion at double its December valuation: Bloomberg

Kalshi Inc. raised more than $1 billion in a funding round led by Coatue Management, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The round valued the prediction market platform at $22 billion, Bloomberg said, double the valuation of the previous round in December, when it also raised $1 billion. That funding round was led by Paradigm, with participation from veteran venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, ARK Invest, Andreessen Horowitz and CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth-equity arm.

The New York-based company declined to comment when approached by CoinDesk.

The new investment highlights investor interest in the fast-growing market despite criticism from legislators regarding insider trading and manipulation. In February, trading volume on the platform exceeded $10 billion, or 12 times its level just six months earlier, KalshiData shows. Its biggest rival, Polymarket, has grown at a similar pace, though it focuses primarily outside the U.S. Kalshi’s annualized revenue is currently $1.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg report.

Kalshi, which is regulated as a financial exchange, offers contracts tied to the outcome of a wide array of real-world events. It was founded in 2018 and exploded in popularity receiving permission to offer trading on the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The company is overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing it to operate nationwide under federal rules, unlike traditional gambling companies that answer to state regulators.

Still, prediction market providers are facing pushback in over a dozen state actions, with state-level regulators arguing that they have jurisdiction over at least sports-related betting products.

Last month, Kalshi reported uncovering and penalizing two users for insider-trading activity, including an editor for the popular social-media star MrBeast. The company at the time also revealed more than a dozen active insider-trading cases among 200 it investigated.

On Thursday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Kalshi’s attempt to stave off an expected temporary restraining order from Nevada, clearing the way for a ban on its operations in the state. On Wednesday, Arizona charged Kalshi with 20 criminal counts, accusing it of operating an illegal gambling business and offering election wagering in the state.