Prediction markets, once considered obscure crypto platforms, have now reached mainstream status, supported by their growth and popularity. Kalshi, one of the largest prediction market companies in the cryptocurrency industry, has reportedly closed a $300 funding round to push its services internationally.

The round, which assigns Kalshi a valuation of $5 billion, will allow the company to open its platform to customers in over 140 countries, allowing them to place bets in any of its markets.

According to The New York Times, the funding round was negotiated back in August and garnered the attention of Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Paradigm, CapitalG, and Coinbase Ventures also chipped in.

The platform’s growth is linked to the inclusion of sports-related bets, as the company has acted as a sort of parlay aggregator. This has disrupted the traditional betting industry, affecting the operations and valuation of traditional sports betting platforms such as DraftKings.

Even company executives have been surprised by the growth in volumes managed by Kalshi, which is on track to reach $50 billion this year, up from $300 million registered in 2024. “We have not expected this level of growth,” said Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour in a recent interview.

Nonetheless, this growth has also attracted increased scrutiny from regulators, facing accusations of skirting current betting restrictions by linking these to financial products. “Every time there’s a new type of financial innovation, there’s always a series of questions around regulation,” Mansour stressed.

In June, Mansour announced that Kalshi had raised $185 million in a funding round led by Paradigm. At the time, the company reached a valuation of $2 billion. Recently, Polymarket, a Kalshi competitor, raised $2 billion from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) — the parent company of NYSE, reaching a valuation of $9 billion.