Kalshi company profile: valuation, funding & revenue

This Kalshi company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Kalshi works in fintech, with a focus on regulated prediction market exchange. It was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in New York, New York, United States. Its latest valuation on record is US$22 billion (May 2026). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.

Revenue

More than US$1.5 billion in annualized revenue — Annualized revenue (company statement to Bloomberg), as of May 2026. Source: Yahoo Finance.

Funding history

Kalshi timeline

Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.

• 2018 — Kalshi is founded in New York by Tarek Mansour (CEO) and Luana Lopes Lara.
• Dec 2025 — Series E: US$1B, valuing the company at US$11B.
• May 2026 — Series F: US$1B, valuing the company at US$22B. Investors: Coatue (lead); Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, ARK Invest.
• May 2026 — Annualized trading volume: Rose from US$52 billion to US$178 billion over six months.
• May 2026 — Market share: More than 90% of US prediction market activity, according to Kalshi.
• September 2026 — Pending round: Reported to be finalizing new funding at around US$40 billion ahead of a planned IPO.

Investors

Overview

Kalshi runs a regulated exchange where people trade on the outcome of real-world events. Each contract asks a yes-or-no question, such as whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting, who will win an election, whether inflation will exceed a certain level, or which team will win a game. Contracts pay out US$1 if the answer is yes and nothing if it is no, so their price, between 0 and 100 cents, reflects the market's view of the probability. Kalshi is regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a designated contract market, the same category as major futures exchanges.

Tarek Mansour, the CEO, and Luana Lopes Lara founded Kalshi in 2018 after meeting at MIT. They spent years seeking regulatory approval before launching in 2021. The company is based in New York and has become the largest prediction market in the United States.

How Kalshi makes money

Kalshi charges trading fees on contracts bought and sold on its exchange. Fees vary with the contract's price and are highest when outcomes are most uncertain. Revenue therefore grows with trading volume. Kalshi has also started building services for institutional traders, such as hedge funds, asset managers, proprietary trading firms and insurers, including block trading, new risk products and integrations with brokers, so its contracts can be traded through existing brokerage accounts.

Growth

Kalshi's growth in 2025 and 2026 was explosive. It told Bloomberg in May 2026 that annualized revenue exceeded US$1.5 billion, that annualized trading volume had risen from US$52 billion to US$178 billion over six months, and that institutional trading activity was up 800%. It says it accounts for more than 90% of US prediction market activity. Sports contracts have been a large driver of volume, alongside elections, economic data and other events.

Funding history

• December 2025, Series E: US$1 billion at an US$11 billion valuation.
• May 2026, Series F: US$1 billion at a US$22 billion valuation, led by Coatue, with Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley and ARK Invest. The valuation doubled in five months.
• Late 2026: Bloomberg reported that Kalshi was finalizing new funding at around US$40 billion, possibly its last private round before an IPO. That round had not been confirmed when we last checked.

Regulation and legal battles

Kalshi's business depends on regulation. In 2024, it won a court case against the CFTC that allowed it to list contracts on US election outcomes. It later expanded into sports, which brought it into conflict with state gambling regulators. Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois and other states have taken legal action or ordered Kalshi to stop offering certain contracts, arguing that sports event contracts amount to unlicensed sports betting. Kalshi argues that, as a federally regulated exchange, it answers only to the CFTC. A federal appeals court sided with Kalshi against New Jersey, and the CFTC itself sued several states to stop them enforcing gambling laws against prediction markets. The outcome of these disputes, potentially at the Supreme Court, will shape the whole industry.

Competitive landscape

Kalshi's main competitor is Polymarket, which grew rapidly as a crypto-based platform outside the US before obtaining a US-regulated route through an acquisition. Traditional exchanges and brokers, including CME Group, Robinhood and others, have launched event contracts too, and sportsbooks such as FanDuel and DraftKings have moved into prediction markets. Kalshi's advantages are its CFTC licence, liquidity and early lead in the US.

What to watch next

Watch court decisions on federal versus state authority, the closing of the reported US$40 billion round, IPO preparations, the share of volume from sports versus other events, and competition from brokers and sportsbooks.

Key facts at a glance

Kalshi is a New York prediction market exchange founded in 2018 by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara and regulated by the CFTC. It raised US$1 billion at US$11 billion in December 2025 and US$1 billion at US$22 billion in May 2026, led by Coatue. It reported more than US$1.5 billion in annualized revenue and US$178 billion in annualized trading volume in May 2026.

Why prediction markets attract investors

Supporters argue that prediction markets do two useful things. They produce probability estimates that often prove more accurate than polls or expert forecasts, because traders have money at stake. And they let businesses and individuals hedge real risks: a farmer worried about weather, a company exposed to an interest rate decision, or an investor concerned about an election outcome. Critics counter that much of the volume, especially in sports, looks like gambling, and that easy access can harm vulnerable people. For investors, the attraction is simple: an exchange earns fees on every trade, and volumes have grown faster than almost any other financial market.

Exchange economics

Exchanges benefit from strong network effects. Traders go where the liquidity is, because they can buy and sell quickly at fair prices, and liquidity attracts more traders. Once an exchange leads in a product, rivals find it hard to catch up. Costs are mostly fixed technology and compliance, so additional volume is very profitable. That's why exchange businesses often command high valuations, and why Kalshi's investors are willing to value it at many times its current revenue.

Questions to ask about a prediction market

• Is it regulated, and by whom, in your state or country?
• How are customer funds held and protected?
• What fees apply, and how do they vary with price?
• How liquid are the markets you're interested in?

What this means if you're…

A trader or investor: treat event contracts as speculative; understand fees, liquidity and the regulatory status in your state.

A fintech founder: Kalshi shows that winning regulatory approval can become a powerful competitive moat.

An investor: weigh rapid growth against legal risk from state challenges.

Latest developments (October 2026)

Kalshi's May 2026 Series F of US$1 billion, led by Coatue at US$22 billion, remains its latest closed round. Reuters reported on 30 September 2026 that it was in advanced talks to raise about US$1 billion at a US$40 billion valuation, with Sequoia and Wellington expected to lead, according to Cointelegraph. Its chief executive has said an IPO would not happen before 2027.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.

1. Yahoo Finance
2. Bloomberg