Prediction market platform Kalshi has raised more than 1 billion USD in an ongoing funding round. Coatue Management is leading the round at a Kalshi valuation of 22 billion USD. Consequently, the company's value has doubled since November 2025.
This fundraise comes during a phase of extreme contrasts. Just two days before the announcement, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a 20-count criminal complaint against the company. The charge is operating an illegal gambling enterprise without a license. Kalshi thus stands simultaneously at the peak of its funding history and before its first criminal confrontation in the United States.
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Kalshi valuation surpasses DraftKings and FanDuel parent
Kalshi's new valuation of 22 billion USD exceeds established sports betting companies. Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, sits roughly 3.3 billion USD below that figure. DraftKings comes in at about 9.5 billion USD less. For Coatue Management, this marks its first investment in a dedicated prediction market platform.
The growth trajectory has been steep. In June 2025, the valuation stood at 2 billion USD following a 185 million round. By October, the Series D followed with 300 million USD at a 5 billion valuation. Then in November, Kalshi closed a Paradigm-led Series E of 1 billion USD at an 11 billion valuation. Within nine months, the company's value increased elevenfold.
Previous investors include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, ARK Invest, and Y Combinator. CapitalG, Alphabet's investment arm, also holds a stake. Institutional participants such as Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading serve as market makers on the platform. Kalshi has long since moved beyond attracting only retail traders.
Trading volume increases twelvefold in six months
Monthly trading volume on Kalshi surpassed the 10 billion USD mark in February 2026. Compared to the prior half-year period, that represents a twelvefold increase. Industry-wide, monthly volume stood at over 15 billion USD in March. This amounts to a 665 percent year-over-year gain.
Sacra, a data provider specializing in startups, estimates Kalshi's total revenue for 2025 at 260 million USD. In the prior year, it was just 24 million. That corresponds to growth of nearly 1,000 percent. Annualized revenue for 2026 is estimated at around 1.5 billion USD. As a result, the price-to-sales ratio sits at roughly 15.
CNN has served as Kalshi's official prediction markets partner since late 2025. Tradeweb Markets also cooperates on market data distribution. Both partnerships contributed to the platform's mainstream acceptance. Chamath Palihapitiya recently estimated weekly industry volume at over 6 billion USD. He described it as a 100-fold increase within two years.
Arizona files first criminal complaint against prediction market platform
On March 17, Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a criminal complaint with 20 charges against KalshiEx LLC and Kalshi Trading LLC. The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Maricopa County Superior Court. Charges allege operating an unlicensed betting operation and illegal election wagering. These are classified as misdemeanors, not felonies.
Arizona is therefore the first U.S. state to pursue criminal action against Kalshi. Previously, more than 20 civil lawsuits in various states had addressed the platform's legal status. Still, the core conflict remains unresolved. Kalshi considers its products futures contracts under federal CFTC jurisdiction. Several states, by contrast, classify them as illegal gambling.
Kalshi responded sharply. CEO Tarek Mansour stated:
"These charges have nothing to do with gambling or the substantive law." - Tarek Mansour, Co-Founder and CEO, Kalshi
According to the company, Arizona filed the criminal complaint four days after Kalshi's own lawsuit in federal court. Allegedly, the aim was to circumvent the federal court process. In a separate Nevada case, the Ninth Circuit also denied an emergency motion by Kalshi on March 19. Federal Judge Michael Liburdi subsequently asked Kalshi to demonstrate why the Arizona case belongs in federal court.
CFTC backs Kalshi
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig called Arizona's actions "entirely inappropriate." The agency is reviewing its options. As a regulated derivatives exchange, Kalshi falls under the exclusive federal oversight of the CFTC. It therefore remains unclear whether individual states can even bring criminal charges against such a platform.
Hedge funds like Point72 and Balyasny have already prohibited their employees from trading on prediction market platforms. This regulatory uncertainty affects not just Kalshi itself but the entire industry. Competitor Polymarket is also reportedly seeking a valuation above 20 billion USD, according to the Wall Street Journal. ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, already invested strategically at a pre-money valuation of 8 billion USD.
The question of federal versus state jurisdiction over prediction markets could ultimately land before the U.S. Supreme Court. Until then, Kalshi operates in a legal gray area that has so far slowed neither institutional investors nor volume growth.
