Kalshi, a U.S. prediction market, has raised $300 million in a Series D round led by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
The funding, reported by The New York Times, gives the company a $5 billion valuation. Kalshi plans to expand to more than 140 countries, letting users trade on real-world events like politics, sports, and global news.
“We have not expected this level of growth,” said Tarek Mansour, Kalshi’s co-founder and chief executive.
The new funding comes as prediction markets grow more popular among retail users. Kalshi said it is on track to reach $50 billion in annualized trading volume, a big leap from last year’s $300 million.
Data from Dune shows Kalshi now holds more than 60% of the global prediction market, surpassing its main rival Polymarket. Other investors in the round include Paradigm, CapitalG, Coinbase Ventures, and Spark Capital.
Much of Kalshi’s growth has come from sports-related contracts. Since the U.S. legalized sports betting in 2018, the market has expanded rapidly. Kalshi tapped into that momentum with complex bets known as parlays, attracting new users.
Dustin Gouker, a sports betting consultant, said many Robinhood users now trade through Kalshi, showing how mainstream these markets have become.
The platform has also benefited from deals with brokerages like Robinhood and Webull. These allow users to buy and trade contracts as easily as stocks. Kalshi now aims to bring that simplicity to a global audience.
To support its vision, the firm partnered with ZeroHash, allowing users to deposit crypto. “The next 10x unlock for us will be building new financial primitives,” said John Wang, Kalshi’s crypto lead, at Solana APEX.
However, the company has faced pushback from U.S. state regulators over its sports contracts. Several states claim Kalshi is avoiding local gambling laws by offering contracts based on sports results, though the Commodity Futures Trading Commission cleared Kalshi’s election-related offerings in May. Despite legal tension, the company continues to expand.
Kalshi’s fast growth shows how prediction markets are becoming more accepted around the world. The company’s global expansion reflects its goal to make event trading easier for everyone.
