Kalshi secures $185 million Series C funding round as prediction markets gain momentum

Kalshi has raised $185 million in a Series C funding round led by investment firm Paradigm, pushing the valuation of the U.S.-regulated event trading platform to $2 billion. The round also drew backing from Sequoia Capital, Multicoin, Neo, Bond Capital, and Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao, according to a statement by co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour.

The announcement follows a period of accelerated growth and increased investor attention on prediction markets, particularly after Kalshi’s recent legal victory against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). That court ruling enabled the platform to list contracts tied to U.S. election outcomes, marking a turning point for the event contracts sector, which had long operated in regulatory gray zones.

Founded in 2018 by Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, Kalshi allows users to trade on the outcome of real-world events such as economic indicators, political developments, and weather patterns. Its platform gained traction during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, when users sought alternatives to traditional polling forecasts.

While Kalshi is licensed by the CFTC and permitted to operate in the United States, it continues to face legal scrutiny at the state level. In April, the company filed for a temporary restraining order against Maryland’s gaming regulator after receiving a cease-and-desist directive. The company also objected to an amicus brief filed by tribal organizations, calling it “untimely and unhelpful.”

Despite ongoing legal challenges, Kalshi reports that the past year has seen a 100-fold increase in trading activity, a tenfold rise in user numbers, and five times more active markets. The new capital, according to Mansour, will be used to expand the company’s technology team and strengthen its integration with brokerage platforms.

“People choose to work at Kalshi not because of the money we’ve raised, but because of our ambition: build the most important financial market on the planet,” Mansour wrote on X. “Today, we celebrate our team and community who have taken prediction markets mainstream and made Kalshi one of the fastest-growing companies in America. What once felt impossible now looks inevitable.”

I’m excited to announce our $185M Series C valuing Kalshi at $2B.

The round was led by Paradigm with participation from Sequoia, Multicoin, Peng Zhao, Neo, and Bond Capital.

People choose to work at Kalshi not because of the money we've raised, but because of our ambition:… pic.twitter.com/OGgZSwOPvj

— Tarek Mansour (@mansourtarek_) June 25, 2025

Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang expressed strong conviction in the platform’s potential. “Prediction markets remind me of crypto 15 years ago: a new asset class on a path to trillions. There’s no better team than Kalshi to scale prediction markets and reshape how people think about everything from elections and economic markets to weather and sports,” Huang said in a statement.

Kalshi has now raised a total of $415 million since its inception. The announcement comes amid rising interest in the broader prediction market space.

Rival platform Polymarket, which operates using cryptocurrencies and does not serve U.S.-based users, is reportedly nearing a $200 million funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. That deal would value Polymarket at over $1 billion. Current markets on Polymarket include predictions on Middle East geopolitical tensions and the likelihood of a U.S. recession in 2025.

Robinhood also entered the sector this year, launching a dedicated prediction hub as part of its platform expansion.