Prediction market platform Kalshi has completed a $185 million investment round, pushing its valuation toward $2 billion. According to The Wall Street Journal, the raise was led by crypto investment firm Paradigm, with additional participation from Sequoia Capital, Multicoin Capital, and other venture capitalists.
Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour confirmed that the funds will be used to expand the company’s technology team and connect its market to additional brokerages. The Kalshi contracts are currently available on Robinhood Markets and Webull platforms and are expected to be available on more retail platforms.
“In the past year alone, the platform has increased volume by 100x, users by 10x, active markets by 5x — all while securing multiple important licenses and legal victories, including a historic victory in federal court that enabled Americans to trade on the outcome of elections for the first time in over 100 years,” the firm said.
Kalshi ends CFTC dispute, opens path to extension
The platform was launched in 2018 by Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara. Kalshi had already secured $156 million, including its 2021 Series A, $30 million, and short-term loans last year. This latest round is an indication of renewed confidence by investors in event-related financial products, especially those that follow a regulated framework. The funding comes after its regulatory issues.
In May 2025, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) dismissed its appeal of a court decision that had permitted Kalshi to continue trading political prediction contracts. The case was over the question of whether these contracts were illegal gambling under commodities law. The dismissal eliminates one of the main legal impediments to Kalshi and provides a firmer establishment of political event markets in the US.
Mansour celebrated the decision, citing that what previously had been considered unachievable is now inevitable due to the Kalshi team and community bringing prediction markets into the mainstream. During the 2024 U.S. presidential election, political markets on Kalshi reported a trading volume in excess of 875 million, further strengthening the platform’s appeal. According to Kalshi’s website, the platform also saw over 16 million trades during the New York City Mayoral Primary election.
Kalshi’s chief competitor, Polymarket, is also said to be raising capital by $200 million at a $1 billion valuation. Although Polymarket has taken the edge in open interest, with slightly below 600 million in active markets, Kalshi now has more active markets, based on third-party information aggregated by Polymarket Analytics. Polymarket has gained notable popularity because of its massive election-focused pools aimed at predicting elections, including its U.S. presidential market, which exceeds $3 billion in volume.
Kalshi, on the other hand, has further integrated into the crypto ecosystem through a new integration with ZeroHash, allowing it to make deposits in Bitcoin, Solana, Worldcoin, and USDC. The move to accept digital assets stands to make the platform address networks of crypto-native traders. In yet another high-profile move, Donald Trump Jr. joined Kalshi as a senior advisor in January.