Kalshi, the federally regulated US prediction-market exchange, is in talks to raise fresh capital at a valuation of about $40 billion, according to a Financial Times report, a figure that would nearly double the level it reached only weeks earlier and underscore the speed at which investor money is flowing into the event-contract business.
The reported round, which people familiar with the matter said could close as soon as the third quarter, would come on the heels of a $1 billion funding round completed in May that valued the company at $22 billion. That earlier round drew a roster of prominent backers including Coatue Management, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Morgan Stanley. Should the new raise materialize at the reported figure, it would mark another sharp step up in a valuation that has climbed roughly twentyfold in about a year, from around $2 billion in mid-2025 through a series of escalating rounds.
Driving the repricing is an extraordinary surge in trading activity. Kalshi processed more than $17 billion in volume last month, up from less than $5 billion a year earlier, and recently posted record weekly volume during a stretch of billion-dollar trading days fueled by heavy interest in sports contracts. Sports-related markets account for the bulk of the platform's activity, and the company has continued to broaden its offerings, including an expansion of its regulated crypto perpetual-futures lineup.
The reported valuation would widen Kalshi's lead over its main rival, a blockchain-based prediction platform that has been seeking funding at a markedly lower figure. Investors have shown a clear preference for Kalshi's model as a federally regulated exchange overseen by the US derivatives regulator, a status that has allowed banks, market makers and asset managers to participate without treating the platform as an offshore or unregulated venue. That regulatory standing, built over years, is something competitors cannot easily replicate.
The fundraising talk arrives alongside growing speculation about an eventual public listing. The company's chief executive said this week that an initial public offering was something management had begun to consider given its growth, though he indicated it would not happen before 2027. Some reporting also struck a note of caution, with sources suggesting the company was not actively raising money at the moment, framing the $40 billion figure as reflective of investor appetite rather than a deal in progress.
The picture is complicated by an escalating legal and regulatory fight. More than a dozen US states have taken action against Kalshi, arguing that its sports-related contracts amount to unlicensed gambling, while the company maintains that its event contracts fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal derivatives regulator. Kalshi has sued at least one state over a new licensing law, a separate dispute has drawn in a major exchange operator, and the broader jurisdictional question between federal and state authorities could ultimately reach the country's highest court. For investors weighing the reported valuation, that unresolved legal backdrop sits alongside the rapid growth as a defining feature of the business.