Kalshi, the world's largest prediction market, has closed a $1 billion Series E funding round at an $11 billion valuation. The round was led by Paradigm, with participation from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Meritech Capital, IVP, ARK Invest, Anthos Capital, CapitalG, and Y Combinator.
The New York-based company has emerged as the dominant platform where people trade on real-world events. From political elections to economic indicators, users place bets on outcomes rather than simply watching them unfold. Weekly trading volumes now exceed $1 billion, a staggering increase of more than 1,000% compared to 2024.
Prediction markets have existed for decades, but they remained a niche financial instrument until Kalshi pushed for regulatory approval and mainstream adoption. The company is credited with legalizing prediction markets as a financial asset class in the United States.
"Kalshi is replacing debate, subjectivity, and talk with markets, accuracy, and truth," said Tarek Mansour, CEO of Kalshi. "We have created a new way of consuming and engaging with information. It's hard to have an opinion about the future today without thinking about Kalshi."
The platform now hosts over 3,500 active markets and attracts millions of weekly users. Journalists, politicians, analysts, and everyday investors all turn to Kalshi for real-time probability data. The company recently demonstrated its predictive power by calling the New York City mayoral election just eight minutes after polls closed. Traditional media outlets took hours longer to make the same call.
Kalshi plans to deploy the fresh capital across several strategic priorities. The company aims to expand its user base to 100 million customers, a target that would cement its position as a mainstream financial platform.
Additional funds will go toward integrating more brokerages, which would give existing investors easier access to prediction markets. Kalshi also intends to form partnerships with news organizations and expand its product lineup beyond its current offerings.
Founded in 2018, Kalshi spent its early years navigating complex regulatory hurdles. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission eventually approved the platform, making it the first legally regulated prediction market exchange in the country.
Tarek Mansour leads the company as CEO. Under his direction, Kalshi transformed from a compliance-focused startup into a consumer platform that competes for attention alongside traditional news and social media. The company has successfully positioned prediction markets not just as a trading tool, but as a source of accurate forecasting.
What sets Kalshi apart is how it has changed behavior. Users don't just passively consume news anymore. They put money behind their beliefs, which creates a financial incentive for accuracy. This dynamic has turned the platform into what many consider a more reliable forecasting tool than polls or punditry.
The investor roster reads like a who's who of Silicon Valley. Paradigm, a crypto-focused investment firm founded by Matt Huang and Fred Ehrsam, led the round. The firm sees prediction markets as a category with massive untapped potential.
"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. "People come for one type of market and stay for the breadth. We see this as an uncapped cultural and economic phenomenon, similar to how we felt about crypto a decade ago."
Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Y Combinator bring decades of experience backing companies that reshaped consumer technology. Meritech Capital, IVP, ARK Invest, Anthos Capital, and CapitalG round out the syndicate, providing both growth-stage expertise and strategic value.
