- Kalshi raises a $300 million Series D round.
- It comes as competition is heating up.
Kalshi just raised a $300 million Series D round at a $5 billion valuation.
Sequoia and Andressen Horowitz led the prediction market’s raise, with participation from other investors, including CapitalG, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst, and Spark Capital.
In a statement shared with DL News, Alex Immerman, partner on a16z’s Growth Fund, applauded the founders for taking “the difficult but more responsible route” of becoming regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The cash injection comes as prediction markets are increasingly becoming a key feature of the crypto industry.
It also highlights the growing interest among investors to back crypto-linked startups.
Venture capital firms have backed projects to the tune of $17 billion in the first nine months of 2025, outpacing 2024’s total by over $7 billion.
Competition is heating up
The raise also highlights the intensifying competition between Kalshi and its arch-rival Polymarket.
For now, it seems as if Kalshi is in the lead.
The prediction market overtook Polymarket in September by registering higher trading volumes than its competitor.
As of the week of September 29, Kalshi had over $956 million in trading volume on its platform, almost double that of Polymarket, according to Dune data.
The booming sports betting market is driving the success, according to Dustin Gouker, a sports betting consultant and predictions market analyst.
Sports betting has flourished in the US since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban against the practice in 2018.
It’s now become a $13.7 billion market, one that prediction markets are eagerly wanting to get in on.
In March, stock-trading platform Robinhood also launched a prediction markets hub powered by Kalshi, offering contracts on sports and policy outcomes.
Users betting on Kalshi through Robinhood now account for a large chunk of Kalshi’s trading volume, Gouker told DL News in September.
Kalshi has leveraged its regulation by the CFTC, a distinction that sets it apart from its rivals.
Yet, that advantage may soon disappear.
In July, Polymarket acquired QCX, a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange, for $112 million. In early September, the regulator granted a no-action letter to the exchange, paving the way for Polymarket to start offering its services in the US.
Crypto key for Kalshi
Kalshi already allows users to make deposits with cryptocurrencies through a collaboration with ZeroHash, but it plans to expand its remit.
That’s according to Kalshi’s newly hired crypto lead, John Wang.
“The next 10x unlock for us will be building new financial primitives for trading on Kalshi,” he said during Solana APEX, a Solana conference at the Marina Bay Sands convention centre.
“And crypto, as this global financial layer, is honestly essential to fulfilling that vision.”
He called on developers to pitch ideas ranging from pushing data onchain to tokenising Kalshi positions.
Eric Johansson is DL News’ managing editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.
