Prediction market platform Kalshi announced on Thursday that it raised $1 billion in a Series F funding round, valuing the company at $22 billion. Leading this investment was Coatue, with Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and Ark Invest also contributing to the round.
Kalshi has experienced rapid growth recently, now generating $1.5 billion in annualized revenue while serving 2 million monthly users, capturing 90% of U.S. prediction market activity. The platform’s annualized trading volume reached $178 billion, a more than threefold increase from $52 billion over the last six months.
“There are few categories in recent history that have scaled this quickly outside of AI,” stated Tarek Mansour, Kalshi co-founder and CEO. “Event contracts could become a trillion-dollar market, and we’re still in the early stages of that transition.”
Philippe Laffont, founder of Coatue, expressed in a statement: “Kalshi is building the leading platform for trading in real-world events. Consumers have already embraced it, and we believe institutions will follow.”
The substantial valuation highlights increasing competition within the prediction market sector. Polymarket, the top crypto-native prediction market platform, is reportedly seeking $400 million in funding at a $15 billion valuation. Combined, these platforms reached $150 billion in lifetime volumes by March.
Investment banks foresee significant growth for this sector. Bernstein projects total prediction market volumes will hit $240 billion this year, marking a 370% increase from 2025. The firm estimates the market could expand to $1 trillion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 80%.
Despite attracting attention from users and investors, prediction markets face challenges, including lawsuits from states. The CFTC has responded by suing those states to maintain U.S. regulation at the federal level. Platforms also battle issues like insider trading, which has attracted political scrutiny. In late April, a U.S. army soldier was charged with allegedly using confidential information to win over $400,000 on Polymarket from bets regarding the January removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty to these charges.