- Kalshi is negotiating a capital raise at a $40 billion valuation, nearly double the $22 billion from May 2026.
- Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management are said to be in talks to co-lead the round, as Kalshi’s annualized revenue has passed $4 billion.
- Kalshi built its market position by taking legal action against its federal regulator, despite some investors opposing it.
Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management are in talks to co-lead a new funding round for Kalshi at about a $40 billion valuation, The Information reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The round size has not been finalised.
If the deal goes through, it would almost double Kalshi’s $22 billion valuation from May 2026, when it raised $1 billion in a Series F round. This comes as the company’s annualised revenue has topped $4 billion.
Two MIT classmates envision the company’s future in a lawsuit
Luana Lopes Lara and Tarek Mansour met as MIT students and later worked as traders. Mansour worked at Citadel Securities and Goldman Sachs before they founded Kalshi in 2018. Tech Funding News has covered their story in detail before.
Kalshi lets users trade contracts on real-world events, such as Federal Reserve decisions and sports results. It is a federally regulated exchange, not a betting platform. For example, traders can buy contracts on possible Fed rate cuts and settle them through a CFTC-registered exchange, which has the same regulatory status as other listed derivatives.
This setup has drawn in institutional investors from Wall Street. Interestingly, both Mansour and Polymarket’s Shayne Coplan support the same prediction-markets venture fund, 5(c) Capital, even though their companies compete for funding and regulatory position.
The company spent years fighting the CFTC for approval to list election-related event contracts and finally won in September 2024. This win allowed Kalshi to expand into US markets for politics, sports, and weather.
Kalshi’s regulatory win, which went against investor advice, sets it apart from crypto-native competitors like Polymarket. Polymarket settles trades in cryptocurrency and does not have direct CFTC approval.
Kalshi’s regulated model as a category leader
Kalshi’s closest competitor, Polymarket, is seeking a new funding round at a $20 billion valuation, according to The Information. TFN previously reported on early investor discussions following a $15 billion valuation in April.
Kalshi’s new funding effort comes amid growing legal challenges. More than a dozen US states have challenged its sports contracts as unlicensed gambling. Arizona has filed criminal charges, Massachusetts has banned its sports markets, and Nevada has kept its ban in place.
Industry estimates from Cryptopolitan say sports contracts make up to 90% of Kalshi’s revenue, putting the company at risk if state regulators succeed where the CFTC did not.
Kalshi gained legitimacy by challenging its regulator and is now seeking a $40 billion investment based on that model, even as several states challenge its approach in court. Kalshi has succeeded before, but it remains unclear whether it will succeed again.
