• Kalshi raised $185 million at a $2 billion valuation, bringing its total funding to $415 million.
  • Despite hosting more active markets, Kalshi trails Polymarket in open interest, a key liquidity metric.

Federally regulated prediction market Kalshi has raised $185 million in fresh capital, catapulting its valuation to $2 billion, according to a press release.

This latest round, led by crypto-focused venture firm Paradigm, pushes the company's total funding to $415 million.

Kalshi plans to use the newly secured funds to grow its engineering team, roll out new market structures, and forge new partnerships.

The timing of this fundraise closely follows reports that Polymarket, Kalshi’s main rival in the space, is raising $200 million at a $1 billion valuation in a round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

Market Activity vs Liquidity

Despite Kalshi now hosting more active markets than Polymarket, it still lags in open interest, a key liquidity metric that reflects market confidence and trader engagement.

Publicly available data curated by Polymarket Analytics, an independent source unaffiliated with Polymarket itself, indicates Kalshi holds around $113 million in active trading volume. Polymarket, by comparison, stands just shy of $600 million.

Additionally, a Dune dashboard shows that Polymarket boasts approximately 186,000 active traders, underscoring its lead in user activity and liquidity despite Kalshi’s regulatory advantage and broader market offerings.

High-Profile Ties and Strategic Growth

The investment from Paradigm marks another major move for the venture firm, which recently led the Series A for GTE, a decentralised exchange aiming to challenge HyperLiquid on speed.

In a notable development earlier this year, Donald Trump Jr. announced his role as a senior advisor at Kalshi, further highlighting the platform’s ambitions to increase its influence and public visibility.

With this raise, Kalshi firmly joins the unicorn club and signals its intent to scale aggressively in a rapidly evolving prediction market landscape.

Edited by Annette George