Polymarket Raises $200 Million at Over $1 Billion Valuation, Led by Founders Fund
Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market, is close to raising $200 million in a funding round that values the company at more than $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters on Tuesday. The funding round is being led by billionaire Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, an existing investor in the company.
Founded in 2020 by Chief Executive Shayne Coplan, Polymarket has helped popularize event derivatives trading, which involves buying and selling contracts tied to real-world events such as elections, economic data releases, or policy decisions. Unlike traditional betting, traders buy and sell shares linked to specific outcomes, with prices for opposing sides together totaling $1.
These relatively new and high-risk instruments gained momentum ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as trading volumes on platforms like Polymarket surged. The platform allows users to place bets using cryptocurrency on real-world events, but does not currently allow U.S.-based users to trade, in line with guidance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Proponents argue that event derivatives offer a more accurate way to forecast real-world outcomes by harnessing the collective intelligence of traders with financial stakes in their predictions. During the 2024 U.S. presidential election, contracts on Polymarket predicting a Republican sweep surged, even as most traditional media outlets and polls favored Democrat Kamala Harris.
Current markets on the platform include questions about whether the Iranian regime will fall this year, if Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz before July, and the likelihood of a U.S. recession in 2025.
Polymarket's competitors in the growing event-driven trading space include PredictIt and Kalshi. The company declined to comment on the funding round. The Information first reported the news on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Tasim Zahid)
