Kalshi Raises $300M and Expands to 140+ Countries

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In the quiet glow of an office that could be mistaken for a drawing-room, Kalshi presents itself as a modern curiosity: a fintech platform whereby contracts are traded not for land or harvest, but for events yet to come. And now it declares a widening of its domain to more than 140 countries, after a Series D that whispers of $300 million and the sort of confidence that makes even the most stoic banker smile with a touch of irony. 😌💼

The firm’s CEO, Tarek Mansour, announced on X that Sequoia and a16z led the round, with a chorus of others-Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst, CapitalG, Spark-and a constellation of names that read like a salon guest list: Kevin Hart, Kevin Durant, Rich Kleiman, Mantis, Kevin Yorn. The air is thick with risk and charm, a curious blend indeed.

The round led by Sequoia and a16z received participation from Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst, CapitalG, Spark, Kevin Hart, Kevin Durant, Rich Kleiman, Mantis, and Kevin Yorn.

Back to work. 😂

– Tarek Mansour (@mansourtarek_) October 10, 2025

A New Era for Prediction Markets

According to a press release, Kalshi stood valued at $5 billion during its “massively oversubscribed” Series D, a number that makes the arc from Series C in June resemble a brisk ascent up a well-tended staircase. One might say the ascent has a certain gravity, even if the coins clink with the cheer of speculative fortune. 💫

The firm also claims a trading volume grown by 200X over the past year and a user-base swelling by 20X. “Kalshi now accounts for over 60 percent of global prediction-market activity,” it asserts, a claim tempered by the memory of earlier days when the map scarcely crossed any borders beyond the United States. 🗺️

Kalshi appears to have weathered a stormy regulatory climate after a turbulent back-and-forth with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) through much of 2024. The theatre of governance, where songs of policy rise and fall like autumn leaves, has not always been kind to these ventures. 🍂

As Coinspeaker reported in September 2024, the CFTC chair at that time, Rostin Behnam, sought to ban event contracts on sensitive topics such as gaming, terrorism, and assassination, with concerns about election-related contracts looming large. Behnam departed the CFTC in January 2025 as the political scene shifted; Caroline Pham assumed the role in the interim. In February, Trump nominated former a16z policy head Brian Quintenz, though that nomination was withdrawn in September amid a political fray involving Tyler Winklevoss. 🏛️

Josh Sterling, a Milbank lawyer who currently represents Kalshi, has been named as a potential candidate to replace Quintenz. Semafor recently reported that the White House is vetting Sterling for the chair position. The Hill, on Oct. 8, named Michael Selig, chief counsel for the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, as a frontrunner in the race. The machinery turns, and one cannot help but smile at the drama that sustains a market’s heartbeat. 🌀

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2025-10-10 22:39