Kalshi's latest valuation surged to 11 billion dollars, intensifying the competition with Polymarket.

The global prediction market is entering an unprecedented period of rapid growth, with the valuation competition between Kalshi and Polymarket becoming the biggest highlight. Kalshi's valuation nearly doubled in just two months, soaring from $5 billion to $11 billion. Meanwhile, Polymarket is also not to be outdone, with a valuation range approaching $12 to $15 billion. Both platforms continue to compete fiercely in fundraising, compliance, and market enthusiasm.

Kalshi's fundraising has jumped twice, with its valuation soaring to 11 billion dollars.

Kalshi recently completed its latest round of funding, raising $1 billion and directly soaring its valuation to $11 billion. This round was led by Sequoia and CapitalG, the investment arm of Alphabet, Google's parent company, with other investors including a16z, Paradigm, Anthos Capital, and Neo.

What is even more noteworthy is that this comes just two months after Kalshi completed a $300 million fundraising round, achieving a valuation of $5 billion, which is almost a “leapfrog increase.” Currently, both Kalshi and Sequoia Capital have declined to comment on this funding round, and CapitalG has not yet responded.

Polymarket is sprinting in sync, with a valuation reaching nearly 15 billion dollars.

Just as Kalshi surged to a valuation of $11 billion, its competitor Polymarket also made a high-speed return to the U.S. market and quickly boosted its valuation. According to reports, Polymarket is in talks for a new round of fundraising, with a valuation range between $12 billion and $15 billion, surpassing Kalshi.

This news comes just a few weeks after Polymarket completed its $1 billion fundraising, indicating that competition between the two platforms is extremely fierce.

The two major platforms are chasing each other, racing from Compliance confrontations to market expansion.

The competition between the two major prediction markets is not only in valuation but also in the compliance aspect.

Kalshi: Last year successfully won against the CFTC, confirming that the American public could legally use the platform, but is still entangled in legal battles with multiple state governments over “whether it constitutes illegal gambling.”

Polymarket: In 2022, it was banned from serving Americans due to a settlement with the CFTC. This year, it successfully obtained Compliance in the U.S. through the acquisition of a derivatives exchange and clearinghouse. Founder Shayne Coplan announced in September that the platform has been reauthorized by the CFTC and can launch in the U.S.

The two companies achieved significant breakthroughs in Compliance almost in the same year, and with large-scale fundraising occurring almost simultaneously, it led to an explosive growth in the prediction market.

The era of the prediction market duopoly has arrived, with a comprehensive acceleration from valuation to volume.

Kalshi's annual trading volume surged to $50 billion in October this year, an increase of over 1,000 times compared to about $300 million last year. Polymarket also experienced a massive spike in traffic during events like the U.S. elections and the New York City mayoral election. Observers believe that the rapid increase in valuations and explosive expansion of the two platforms is due to:

The acceptance of the prediction market is rapidly increasing among global users.

Large political events drive a surge in trading volume.

Investors are starting to view the prediction market as a new type of financial platform at the level of an “exchange.”

This also makes the competitive situation between Kalshi and Polymarket more direct and intense.

(Kalshi CEO: The prediction market is moving towards a trillion-dollar scale and could catch up with the stock market in a few years)

This article reports that Kalshi's latest valuation has surged to 11 billion USD, and it is fiercely competing with Polymarket. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.