Kalshi completes $1 billion Series G funding at a $40 billion valuation
Prediction market platform Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour announced that the company has completed a $1 billion Series G funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management, valuing it at $40 billion. Participants in the round included Baillie Gifford, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Coatue Management and Andreessen Horowitz.
The valuation is close to twice that of competitor Polymarket’s recent funding round valuation of about $21 billion. Earlier, Kalshi completed a $1 billion funding round in May 2026, when its valuation was $22 billion. The company said the funds will be used to advance its product roadmap for retail and institutional clients, including developing leveraged event contracts, perpetual futures tied to individual stocks, and compute-power price trading markets, while continuing investment in its institutional business.
Mansour previously said that the company had held related discussions about going public, but would not do so in 2026, and said that a company with its current financial position and growth rate would inevitably have such conversations. The round was widely seen as the last major private financing round before an IPO.
Original sources:
Title: Kalshi valuation jumps to $40 billion in latest funding round Publisher: CNBC Publication date: 2026-10-29 URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/kalshi-40-billion-valuation-funding-round.html Source type: media report Verification status: full text read this time, accessed on 2026-10-29 Supporting content: completed $1 billion funding, $40 billion valuation, Sequoia and Wellington leading the round, a May round at a $22 billion valuation, use of funds, and Mansour’s earlier remarks on an IPO
Title: Kalshi Completes $1 Billion Series G Funding, Led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management Publisher: Odaily (citing The New York Times) Publication date: 2026-10-29 URL: https://www.odaily.news/en/newsflash/528679 Source type: media report Verification status: full text read this time, accessed on 2026-10-29 Supporting content: Mansour announced completion of the Series G round, the list of participants (Baillie Gifford, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz), and the $40 billion valuation
Title: Polymarket reportedly eyes $21B valuation as investors push for a COO Publisher: Crypto Briefing Publication date: 2026-10-21 URL: https://cryptobriefing.com/polymarket-21b-valuation-coo-push/ Source type: media report Verification status: relevant paragraphs read this time, accessed on 2026-10-29 Supporting content: reported Polymarket valuation of about $21 billion; does not prove Kalshi’s round has already closed
ABAB AI Insight
Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara founded Kalshi in 2018. The two met previously at MIT. Mansour is responsible for product and the regulatory path, and Lopes Lara is responsible for engineering. The company received CFTC approval in 2021 to become a regulated event contract exchange, unlike most crypto-native prediction markets. Sequoia was an early investor and holds a board seat; Wellington is a traditional asset manager overseeing about $1.3 trillion in assets and made its first investment in Kalshi in this round.
The financing path for this round was: Sequoia and Wellington led the round, with Baillie Gifford, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Coatue and Andreessen Horowitz participating, for a total of $1 billion and a corresponding $40 billion valuation. The company plans to use the funds to expand from pure event contracts into leveraged products, individual-stock perpetual futures and compute-power price markets, and to increase its share of institutional clients (it previously said it served about 500 institutional entities, with market makers excluded accounting for about 25% of trading volume).
The comparable reference is Polymarket. It was recently reported to be seeking about $1 billion in financing at a valuation of about $21 billion, and to have large stakes held by traditional institutions such as ICE. Similarities with Kalshi are that both are using large financing rounds to drive product expansion; differences are that Kalshi holds a CFTC license and has already launched perpetual futures, while Polymarket is still pushing ahead with U.S. regulatory compliance, and its valuation is about half of Kalshi’s valuation in this round.
This financing lifts Kalshi’s valuation from $22 billion in May to $40 billion, making its funding valuation in the prediction market sector significantly higher than that of its main competitor, while providing capital for its transformation from event contracts into a multi-asset exchange. For institutional clients, the platform can further offer stock-linked and compute-related contracts; for retail clients, the product menu will expand. The indicators to watch are the timeline for subsequent product launches and the progress of litigation over state-level sports betting regulation (multiple appellate courts have issued differing rulings).
ABAB News · Laws of Cognition
Licensed prediction market platforms can be valued significantly higher than similar platforms that are not fully compliant.
When traditional asset managers lead the round, the use of funds shifts from trading-volume growth to multi-asset product expansion.
After successive large financing rounds, IPO discussions become an issue management must address.