Polymarket in talks to raise $400M at a $15B valuation: Report

Polymarket’s potential $15 billion valuation would still put it below the $22 billion valuation of competitor platform Kalshi in its latest funding round.

Prediction market platform Polymarket is reportedly in talks with investors to raise another $400 million in fresh capital, The Information reported Monday.

The $400 million raise would be made at a $15 billion valuation, The Information said, citing two people familiar with the matter. 

The raise would add to a wave of institutional capital flowing into the predictions market space in recent months. New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) invested $600 million into Polymarket in late March, while competitor platform Kalshi’s valuation was marked at about $22 billion in its last funding round.

The Information said Polymarket is looking to add strategic investors beyond ICE in its next funding round, which could total $1 billion.

Prediction markets started booming around the time of the 2024 US election and are now consistently recording over $10 billion in monthly trading volume across markets covering everything from sports and political elections to financial results and cultural events.

With that rise has come surging institutional interest from some of Wall Street’s biggest players.

In early March, one of Nasdaq’s options exchanges, Nasdaq MRX, filed to offer cash-settled, binary-style contracts on the Nasdaq-100 index.

Cboe Global Markets is also launching a prediction market-style offering, while CME Group partnered with American gambling company FanDuel, which will enable traders to bet on markets outside of finance. 

Related: Kalshi to create ‘portal for parents‘ on prediction markets: Report

Last week, TradFi firms Charles Schwab and Citadel Securities said they are also weighing a move into prediction markets.

Despite the rise in prediction market activity, Kalshi and others have faced regulatory scrutiny over widespread insider trading and market manipulation allegations.

Kalshi is currently engaged in a court battle with the Nevada Gaming Control Board after a lower court temporarily blocked Kalshi from operating in the state. 

The state regulator argues that Kalshi’s contracts facilitate unlicensed gambling. Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal has predicted that the case could reach the US Supreme Court, potentially creating precedent over the regulatory treatment of prediction markets and event-based derivatives.Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?

Source: CoinTelegraph