Popular prediction market Kalshi has raised $185 million at a $2 billion valuation after a “breakout year.” The prediction market said the Series C funding round was led by Paradigm, with participation from Sequoia, Multicoin, Neo, BOND Capital, Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao, and other investors.
In a blog post, Kalshi said the investment was emblematic of the fact that prediction markets are no longer a “fringe experiment.”
The company said the additional money will be used for:
- scaling up engineering and infrastructure
- integrating with more brokerages
- expanding liquidity
- And building a variety of new market structures
The new market types are expected to be launched in the coming months.
The company also expects to integrate more effectively with institutions.
Kalshi was launched in 2018 by co-founders Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, who both studied at MIT. Before Kalshi, Mansour worked at Goldman and Citadel. Lara was at Bridewater and then Citadel too.
In 2020, Kalshi became the first fully regulated financial exchange for event contracts, designated as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Users can bet on just about anything, with markets providing some interesting insight into anticipated events. A good example is the recent selection of a socialist in the Democrat primary for the Mayor of New York City with 99% prediction probability.
See live odds and put money on the next NYC Mayor https://t.co/0QBuUpjXd6 pic.twitter.com/NjfKGEvH77
— Kalshi (@Kalshi) June 25, 2025