Kalshi, the prediction market platform that has become the dominant force in U.S. event contracting, is in informal talks with investment banks about a potential initial public offering, The Information reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the company’s finances.
The disclosure caps a period of rapid transformation for the four-year-old company. Kalshi’s annual revenue has passed $2 billion – tripling the figure by November 2025 – after increases in trade linked to the NBA playoffs and the FIFA World Cup brought volume to record levels.
In May, the platform recorded $16.81 billion in monthly trading volume, up from $14.81 billion in April.
The IPO talks remain at an early stage, with no IPO expected until late 2027 or 2028. As part of the discussions, Kalshi is asking potential bank advisers to integrate with its platform, a move designed to give institutional clients of those banks direct trading access.
The news comes weeks after Kalshi closed a $1 billion Series F round led by Coatue at a $22 billion valuation — double the company’s January valuation. The round drew participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, IVP, Morgan Stanley and ARK Invest.
Kalshi’s monster numbers
Kalshi commands more than 90% of the activity in the US prediction market. Its annual trading volume rose from $52 billion to $178 billion over the past year, and institutional trading on the platform jumped 800% in the six months ending in early May.
Those numbers have attracted the attention of Wall Street firms looking for new places to deploy capital.
The company was founded in 2020 by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lage, graduates of the MIT and Y Combinator programs, to build a regulated exchange where users can trade on the results of real-world events – from Federal Reserve decisions and economic indicators to sports results and political races.
For years, Kalshi waged a legal battle against the CFTC for the right to list contracts on political events. It prevailed in late 2024 when a federal court ruled in the company’s favor, unlocking a market that now generates billions in annual revenue.
Kalshi plans to use its latest capital for institutional expansion, including block trading capabilities, new risk products for hedge funds, asset managers and insurance companies, and upgrades to its core trading infrastructure.
IPO timing will depend in part on broader market conditions and the sustainability of Kalshi’s growth. The prediction market has attracted a wave of competitors, including Polymarket, but Kalshi’s status as a CFTC-regulated exchange gives it advantages in institutional adoption that decentralized rivals cannot replicate.
Should Kalshi go public in 2027 or 2028 at a valuation near its last private round, it would be among the largest US fintech IPOs in recent years.