Overview
Kalshi is America’s first federally regulated prediction market exchange, founded in 2018 by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara. The platform allows users to trade event contracts on real-world outcomes, from political elections and economic indicators to sports, weather, and cultural events. After an 18-month regulatory journey, Kalshi received designation as a contract market from the CFTC in November 2020 and launched its trading platform in July 2021. The company made headlines in October 2024 when a federal appeals court ruled in its favor, allowing it to offer political prediction markets—the first fully regulated election markets in the U.S. As of October 2025, Kalshi has achieved a $5 billion valuation following a $300 million Series D funding round and now operates in over 140 countries. With 2 million users and $50 billion in projected annualized trading volume for 2025, Kalshi is transforming how people hedge risk and capitalize on their knowledge of world events.
Products & Markets
- Event Contracts: Yes/No contracts on future events priced between $0.01-$0.99.
- Political Markets: Congressional control, presidential elections, policy outcomes.
- Sports Betting: NFL, NBA, March Madness with spreads, totals, and player props.
- Economic Indicators: Fed rates, inflation, GDP, recession probability, unemployment.
- Entertainment: Oscars, Grammys, Billboard charts, streaming milestones.
- Tech & IPOs: Company IPO predictions, product launches, tech milestones.
- Weather & Climate: Temperature, natural disasters, climate change impacts.
- Partnerships: Available through Robinhood, Webull for broader access.
2024-2025 Highlights
- Reached $5B valuation with $300M Series D (Oct 2025).
- Expanded to 140+ countries in global launch (Aug 2025).
- Raised $185M Series C at $2B valuation led by Paradigm (Jun 2025).
- Projected $50B annualized trading volume, up from $300M in 2024.
- Won federal court approval to offer political prediction markets (Oct 2024).
- Generated $412M in trading volume during 2024 NCAA March Madness.
- Processed over $1B in election-related trading on Election Night 2024.
- Donald Trump Jr. joined as strategic adviser (Jan 2025).
- Launched NFL props, spreads, and parlay markets for sports betting.
- Surpassed Polymarket with 62% of global prediction market volume.
Funding Rounds
| Announced | Money Raised | Round | Valuation | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 10 2025 | $300M | Series D | $5B | Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, CapitalG, Coinbase Ventures |
| Jun 25 2025 | $185M | Series C | $2B | Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Multicoin Capital, Bond Capital, Neo |
| Oct 2024 | $50M | Debt + Equity | $787M | Sequoia Capital, Neo |
| Feb 17 2021 | $30M | Series A | N/A | Sequoia Capital, Charles Schwab, Henry Kravis, Y Combinator, Neo |
| Mar 19 2020 | $6M | Seed | N/A | Y Combinator, SV Angel, Neo |