Prediction markets are going global - and Kalshi is leading the charge. The New York–based firm has raised over $300 million in fresh funding as it pushes beyond the U.S., opening its platform to users in more than 140 countries.
The new Series D round, led by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with participation from Paradigm, comes just months after Kalshi’s $185 million raise in June. Together, the two rounds have more than doubled the company’s valuation to $5 billion, putting it among the most valuable prediction market platforms in the world.
A Global Rollout for Regulated Forecast Trading
Kalshi describes itself as the only fully regulated prediction exchange approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Now, with fresh capital and regulatory credibility, it aims to bring its market-for-everything model to a global audience.
According to Friday’s announcement, the international rollout instantly expanded Kalshi’s potential user base by “billions,” allowing anyone outside the U.S. to access the same trading interface and event markets as American customers. The company said its goal is to become a “unified global hub for event-based finance.”
Despite the sweeping expansion, access won’t be universal. A user agreement lists 38 restricted countries, including Canada, the U.K., France, Singapore, Taiwan, Russia, and Venezuela. Kalshi didn’t specify which regions would receive priority access.
Silicon Valley Doubles Down on Prediction Markets
Kalshi’s latest backers include a long list of top-tier funds – CapitalG, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst, and Spark Capital – all betting that event-driven markets could become a new frontier for financial speculation and risk management.
A16z Growth Fund partner Alex Immerman called Kalshi’s model a “cornerstone of the next generation of regulated digital markets,” crediting its founders, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, for choosing compliance over shortcuts. “They built the first CFTC-regulated prediction platform,” he said. “Their infrastructure is built for scale.”
Rivalry With Polymarket Heats Up
The funding comes amid a wave of renewed attention for the prediction market space. Earlier this week, Polymarket – Kalshi’s biggest competitor – secured a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, pushing its valuation to $9 billion.
That move set the stage for a new rivalry between two very different approaches: Kalshi’s regulated financial exchange model versus Polymarket’s blockchain-native betting platform.
With billions in new funding and global ambitions, Kalshi now appears positioned to bridge the gap between traditional finance and decentralized prediction ecosystems – offering traders everywhere a way to bet, hedge, or speculate on the events shaping the world.
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