Kalshi is in discussions to raise new capital at approximately $40 billion, nearly doubling the $22 billion valuation from its prior round, according to Financial Times reporting. A deal could close as soon as Q3 2026. The funding push comes after CEO Tarek Mansour told CNBC Wednesday that the company is exploring a public listing, though he ruled out any IPO before 2027. "A company of our financial profile with the rate of growth that we're seeing, that sort of conversation has to happen," Mansour said.
The valuation leap underscores Kalshi's pivot from pure prediction markets into derivatives trading. The platform launched the first CFTC-approved crypto perpetual futures contracts and announced a tokenized prediction market product on Solana. Those moves have helped Kalshi pull ahead of Polymarket in volume: Kalshi recorded $37.5 billion in year-to-date notional volume compared to Polymarket's $29.2 billion.
Kalshi's previous $22 billion round drew backing from Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Morgan Stanley. The new fundraise, by contrast, targets $40 billion, signaling investor appetite for the broader prediction-market-plus-derivatives thesis. Polymarket, Kalshi's main rival, separately sought funding at a $15 billion valuation.
The timing of an IPO pivots on regulatory clarity and market conditions. Mansour's public comments suggest the company sees a 2027 window as realistic but not certain. A public listing would require the company to meet SEC disclosure standards while continuing to operate under CFTC oversight of its derivatives offerings. That dual regulation is nascent territory: few crypto platforms have attempted it, and the ruleset remains in flux.