Kalshi raises $1B and doubles its valuation to $11B

According to TechCrunch, the new capital came from long‑time Kalshi backers, including Sequoia Capital and Alphabet’s corporate venture fund CapitalG. Other shareholders in the platform include Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Anthos Capital, Neo and Coinbase Ventures, which supported the company when it was first moving beyond the U.S.

In the fall, Kalshi announced that it had raised more than $300 million at a $5 billion valuation to expand to more than 140 countries and build a single pool of liquidity for users around the world. At the same time, the company reported a sharp jump in trading activity: according to the New York Times, by mid‑October annual trading volume on Kalshi had reached $50 billion, up from roughly $300 million a year earlier.

Kalshi lets retail traders take positions on a wide range of outcomes, from who will be Time’s Person of the Year to macroeconomic indicators and election results. In the U.S. market, the startup operates as an event‑contracts exchange supervised by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and markets itself as an alternative to traditional sports‑betting and bookmaking.

Its regulatory path, however, remains bumpy. Last year, Kalshi won a court case that allowed it to offer its contracts to U.S. customers after it challenged the CFTC. At the same time, the company is still negotiating with several state‑level regulators who continue to view such platforms as a form of illegal gambling. Kalshi’s rival Polymarket was forced to exit the U.S. market a few years ago after a settlement with the CFTC and has only recently started working its way back by acquiring licensed entities.

The funding race between the two players is heating up. After Kalshi announced its global expansion plans, Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket, valuing the competitor at roughly $8 billion pre‑money. Kalshi’s new round almost closes the gap between the two platforms and shows just how bullish investors have become on prediction markets.

Interest in Kalshi is also fueled by potential integrations with major crypto companies. Earlier reports suggested that Coinbase has been testing a prediction product built on Kalshi’s infrastructure, based on internal links and interface elements. If the partnership is formalized, Kalshi could gain access to Coinbase’s multi‑million‑user audience and fresh liquidity, while the exchange would get a new source of fee revenue.