Kalshi’s reported new round would nearly double its May valuation, landing the same day Baltimore sued it over unlicensed sports betting.
Original Image Credits: Diarmuid Greene/Web Summit via Sportsfile / Flickr.com
Posted August 14, 2026 at 6:34 am EST.
Prediction market operator Kalshi is in advanced discussions with Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management over a funding round of at least $750 million at a $40 billion valuation, The Information reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The final figure could land higher.
Sequoia already has an executive on Kalshi’s board and would be deepening an existing position. For Boston-based Wellington, which oversees $1.3 trillion in client assets and has a record of taking private stakes in companies heading toward public listings, it would be a first investment in Kalshi. CEO Tarek Mansour said in June that a public listing would not happen before 2027.
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Kalshi closed $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation in May, meaning investors would be paying nearly twice that price roughly three months later, against annualized revenue that reached about $4 billion in July. That revenue is heavily concentrated: sports contracts account for more than 80% of Kalshi’s volume, with 2026 World Cup betting driving much of the July figure.
The concentration in sports is also the legal exposure. On Thursday, the same day the funding talks surfaced, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and the city council filed consumer protection suits in Baltimore City Circuit Court against Kalshi and Polymarket, alleging their sports event contracts amount to unlicensed sports betting under Maryland law. The complaint also names distribution partners Coinbase, Robinhood and Webull, and argues that “combos” offered on Kalshi and Robinhood function as sportsbook parlays. The city is seeking penalties, restitution and an injunction. Kalshi’s position has consistently been that its markets fall under exclusive CFTC oversight.
Kalshi’s valuation ladder has climbed steeply: $5 billion in September 2025, $11 billion that November, $22 billion in May. Polymarket, which lost its volume lead to Kalshi earlier this year after a botched fee rollout and an extended outage, has separately been reported to be targeting a $20 billion valuation.
Related Listen: DEX in the City: How Kalshi’s Rough Week Became a Federal Fight for Prediction Markets
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
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