Polymarket is in early-stage talks with investors and looking to raise additional funding at a valuation of between $12 billion and $15 billion, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Founded in 2020, Polymarket operates a crypto-native prediction venue where users trade yes/no outcomes across a wide range of topics, including politics, sports, markets, and culture.
The predictions market arms race has been heating up in recent months as both Polymarket and rival Kalshi continue to court investor interest at increasing valuations amid accelerating mainstream adoption of the sector.
Polymarket alone has gone from a $1.2 billion valuation following a $150 million round in June, led by Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund, to a $9 billion post-money valution earlier this month after it was revealed that NYSE parent firm Intercontinental Exchange had agreed to invest up to $2 billion . That latter deal made Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan one of the youngest self-made billionaires.
Bloomberg also reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources, that the U.S.-regulated predictions platform Kalshi is fielding investment offers at a valuation between $10 billion and $12 billion — less than two weeks after it raised more than $300 million at a $5 billion valuation — with trading volume for both companies soaring.
The Block reached out to Polymarket for comment.
Last month, Polymarket hit a new all-time high for markets created . In an effort to continue that momentum, the Polygon-based platform recently rolled out bitcoin deposit support alongside existing tokens across the Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, and Solana ecosystems, and launched up/down equity and index markets, letting users bet if a stock or benchmark finishes higher or lower by a set time.
Perhaps Polymarket's most significant boost will come from re-entering the U.S., with Coplan confirming last month that the platform has been "given the green light to go live" in the country again after halting operations there in 2022 amid regulatory uncertainty, while a POLY token is also potentially on the cards.
Furthermore, on Wednesday, Polymarket said it will serve as the designated clearinghouse for DraftKings if the sports betting giant launches a predictions market following its acquisition of Railbird. The National Hockey League has also reportedly reached multi-year licensing agreements with both Kalshi and Polymarket, according to The Wall Street Journal.