Polymarket is on the verge of achieving unicorn status as it nears the end of a $200m (£146m) funding round, according to reports.
As first reported by technology business publication The Information, the latest funding round values the prediction markets platform at more than $1bn.
Of the $200m figure, it is suggested $50m is from capital raised during a previously unannounced funding round.
The round was led by Founders Fund, owned by billionaire, political activist and existing Polymarket investor Peter Thiel.
In addition to running the Founders Fund, Thiel co-founded payments platform PayPal and software firm Palantir Technologies.
Founded in 2020 by Shayne Coplan, Polymarket rose to prominence in the run-up to the 2024 US Presidential Election in a year when around $8bn was traded on the event.
According to search engine marketing platform Semrush, the New York-based exchange had 10.5 million site visits during May 2025.
This is despite the platform not being legal in the US as it is not registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the body which regulates derivative markets.
However, it’s thought that Americans are accessing Polymarket, which runs on the Polygon blockchain and only accepts cryptocurrencies, by using VPNs.
In the days following the US election the FBI raided Coplan’s home and seized his phone and other electronic devices. While he wasn’t arrested, Coplan later claimed the raid was retaliation for Polymarket correctly calling the winner, Donald Trump.
In May, the company processed $30m worth of trades on who would be named the next Pope, with cardinal Robert Prevost eventually succeeding the late Pope Francis.
Fellow prediction market specialists Kalshi, which is regulated in the US by the CFTC, took $10.6m worth of trades for the same event.
Earlier this month, Polymarket was named as the official prediction markets platform for the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X.
The two companies launched an integrated product on the Polymarket platform that taps into real-time data and insight from X.
Kalshi, which recently launch a TV advert created entirely with AI, had previously announced a collaboration with X, prior to a public falling out between Musk and US President Donald Trump.
During Flutter’s Q1 earnings call in May, Peter Jackson said the group had deployed team members who work on the Betfair Exchange to “evaluate the opportunity” of prediction markets in the US.
However, he admitted he didn’t think prediction markets, given their binary nature, will have much of an impact on US sports betting, where Flutter’s FanDuel brand remains the market leader.
The post Report: Polymarket nears completion of $200m funding round first appeared on EGR Intel.
Prediction markets platform would be valued at more than $1bn after latest raise led by fund owned by billionaire and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel
The post Report: Polymarket nears completion of $200m funding round first appeared on EGR Intel.