Kalshi Secures $185 Million Investment Valuing Company at $2 Billion

Kalshi, a regulated prediction market platform, has successfully secured an $185 million investment round, valuing the company at $2 billion. This significant funding round positions Kalshi as a major competitor to Polymarket. The investment was led by Paradigm, with additional support from Sequoia Capital, Multicoin Capital, and other notable investors.

Tarek Mansour, CEO and co-founder of Kalshi, confirmed that the newly raised funds will be utilized to enhance the platform's technology infrastructure and expand its presence across various retail brokerages. Currently, Kalshi’s markets are integrated with Robinhood and Webull, with plans to integrate with more platforms in the near future.

Over the past 12 months, Kalshi has experienced rapid growth. The platform has seen a 100-fold increase in trading volume, a 10x increase in its user base, and a fivefold increase in the number of active markets. These gains have been supported by key regulatory and legal victories, including a landmark U.S. federal court decision that permitted trading on election outcomes, overturning a century-old prohibition.

This legal breakthrough followed a dispute with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which had challenged Kalshi's political event contracts as potential gambling instruments. In May 2025, the CFTC dropped its appeal, allowing Kalshi to offer election-related markets legally in the United States.

Kalshi's success during the 2024 U.S. election cycle highlights its potential. The platform reported over $875 million in political market trading volume and more than 16 million trades in the NYC mayoral primary alone. This momentum has attracted high-profile backing, including Donald Trump Jr., who joined the company as a senior advisor in January, underscoring Kalshi’s growing influence at the intersection of politics, finance, and crypto.

While Polymarket has dominated in open interest, Kalshi now leads in the number of active markets. Polymarket lacks U.S. regulatory licensing, whereas Kalshi operates under full compliance, offering a clear advantage in institutional trust and retail adoption. Polymarket remains strong in election prediction markets, with its U.S. presidential market exceeding $3 billion in volume. However, Kalshi’s regulated structure may give it the edge for broader, mainstream financial integration.

Kalshi is also targeting crypto-native traders with a new ZeroHash partnership that allows deposits in Bitcoin, Solana, Worldcoin, and USDC. This crypto integration positions the platform to tap into a large user base already familiar with decentralized finance and tokenized assets. According to the analyst's forecast, Kalshi accounted for 79% of all sports prediction trading volume during March and early April 2025, a sign of its growing dominance beyond politics.

Kalshi’s $185 million raise and its resulting $2 billion valuation represent a pivotal moment in the evolution of regulated event-driven markets. With a strong legal framework, growing user base, and crypto-friendly features, Kalshi is emerging as a powerful force in the prediction market space—one that may eventually outpace unregulated competitors like Polymarket.

As prediction markets gain traction among both traditional and crypto investors, Kalshi's regulated and strategically aggressive approach could set a new standard for the industry.