Prediction market platform Kalshi has closed a massive $1 billion Series F funding round, pushing its valuation to an eye-watering $22 billion. The deal cements the company’s place as a dominant force in event-based trading and highlights the growing appetite from Wall Street institutions for new ways to trade on real-world outcomes.
Quick Facts
- $1 billion raised in a Series F round.
- Company now valued at a staggering $22 billion.
- Institutional trading volume surged 800% in six months.
The round was led by Coatue and saw participation from a slate of heavyweight investors, including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest. This funding comes just five months after a previous $1 billion raise that valued the company at $11 billion, signaling incredible momentum.
According to the company, its annualized trading volume has rocketed from $52 billion to $178 billion in the last six months, with annualized revenue now topping $1.5 billion.
From Lebanon to Wall Street
At the heart of Kalshi’s rapid ascent is co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour, a Lebanese-American entrepreneur who spent part of his early years in Lebanon. Mansour met his co-founder, Luana Lopes Lara, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Their experiences at top financial firms like Goldman Sachs, Citadel, and Bridgewater revealed a gap in the market. Institutions wanted direct exposure to events like elections, inflation figures, or Federal Reserve decisions, but had to rely on complex and indirect financial instruments. The idea for Kalshi was to create a platform where users could trade directly on the outcome of the event itself.
Building a Regulated Exchange
From the beginning, Kalshi chose a path of regulatory compliance. In 2020, the company secured approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), becoming the first federally regulated exchange in the U.S. specifically for event contracts.
This move provided a level of legitimacy that many crypto-based competitors lacked, making Kalshi an attractive platform for institutional investors. The exchange now offers markets on everything from economic indicators and weather events to geopolitical outcomes.
Institutional Adoption Drives Growth
The latest funding reflects the institutionalization of prediction markets, which are moving from a niche online activity to a serious financial tool for hedge funds and asset managers. Kalshi claims it now accounts for over 90% of U.S. prediction market activity.
The new capital is set to deepen Kalshi’s push into Wall Street. The company plans to build out institutional-grade products, including block trading capabilities, broker integrations, and sophisticated risk-management tools designed for large-scale financial players.
“Event contracts could become a trillion-dollar market, and we’re still in the early stages of that transition,” said Tarek Mansour.
About Kalshi
Founded by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange that allows users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events. The platform offers “event contracts,” which are yes-or-no questions about future events, creating a new asset class for hedging risk and forecasting.
Source: Arab Founders
