Original|Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author|Wenser(@wenser 2010)
Behind the rising trading volume of prediction markets, their ecosystem is also expanding rapidly.
Yesterday, venture capital firm 5c(c) Capital, initiated by two former Kalshi employees, announced its latest fundraising plan, aiming to raise $35 million for investments in startups related to prediction markets. Notably, the institution has not only received support from Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, among others, but its other investors also include individuals from a16z, Ribbit Capital, and Multicoin Capital.
At the same time, this institution is both the first venture capital firm focused on investing in the prediction market industry and the same entity simultaneously funded by the two giants of the prediction market, Kalshi and Polymarket, which can be considered "unprecedented in the industry." Combined with previous news such as Kalshi initiating a prediction market alliance, planning a prediction market conference, Polymarket opening LP market-making incentives, and the emergence of various prediction market data platforms, prediction markets are gradually decoupling from the native crypto market and becoming an emerging industry ecosystem independently.
When an industry's trading volume increases dozens of times within a year, when a single platform's monthly trading volume rivals the entire industry's volume just a few months ago, prediction markets are aggressively encroaching on the territory of traditional betting platforms.
Polymarket CEO Invests in Former Kalshi Employees: A Common Choice for the Two Titans of Prediction Markets
It is understood that the name of 5c(c) Capital comes from the clause regarding prediction markets in the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act.
And the two founders are veteran figures at Kalshi—Adhi Rajaprabhakaran was formerly the No.2 trader at Kalshi Trading, Kalshi's affiliated market-making division, and also the creator of the well-known prediction market podcast "50 Cent Dollars"; Noah Zingler-Sternig served as Kalshi's Head of Operations (similar to COO) and led the integration of Kalshi with Robinhood Markets Inc.
Additionally, the fund plans to invest in about 20 companies over the next two years, focusing on prediction market infrastructure directions such as market makers and index design; its first round of fundraising will be completed within the next month.
A Luxurious Investor Lineup: Spanning Traditional VC, Crypto VC, Prediction Markets, and Traditional Sports Betting Platforms
Besides the support from confirmed investors like Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and the unofficially confirmed Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, other investors in 5c(c) Capital can be described as a "luxurious lineup"—including "veteran venture capitalists" like Marc Andreessen from A16z (who invested through the Moneta Luna fund), as well as industry veterans like Ribbit Capital founder Micky Malka and former Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani. The list even includes an investment manager from the hedge fund Millennium, which has over $70 billion in assets under management, and the founder of the prediction market platform PredictIt, among other insiders and outsiders.
If the above list of investors is more about the interests of venture capital institutions, then the actions of the following 2 investors can be considered "industry demand behaviors" similar to those of Polymarket and Kalshi. It is understood that the names of Underdog CEO Jeremy Levine and Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky are also prominently listed.
It is evident that as the industry develops rapidly, prediction market platforms and even traditional sports betting platforms are trying every means to solidify their development foundations.
The Ambition of the New Prediction Market Fund: Future Industry Trading Volume Could Reach $10 Trillion
It is worth mentioning that the two founders of 5c(c) Capital mentioned 2 key pieces of information in this investment document:
First, they explicitly stated, "We hope to use the (product platforms) we build to create more secondary, tertiary, and even quaternary effects." From their words, it is not difficult to see that their aim is not just primary investments in building prediction market platforms, but also capital investments, risk management, equity trading, and more layers of attraction and flow of liquidity generated based on prediction market platforms in various细分赛道.
Second, regarding the future development of the industry, the document points out, "Although prediction markets currently seem limited to the sports sector, this is only part of the industry. The future trading volume of this industry could reach $10 trillion."
For one thing, Kalshi's recent platform operating data might serve as evidence: as of March 22, Kalshi's monthly nominal trading volume had exceeded $9 billion. At this rate, Kalshi's March trading volume will exceed $12.7 billion, a month-on-month increase of 21.5%. For comparison, Kalshi's annual nominal trading volume in 2025 was approximately $23.8 billion, meaning that in just one month (March alone), Kalshi's trading volume will reach about 53.4% of last year's total. Furthermore, the overall trading volume of the prediction market industry was about $10 billion last October, and now, the trading volume of Kalshi alone has surpassed this number.
Previously, Odaily Planet Daily predicted in multiple articles that prediction markets would become another trillion-dollar industry赛道 independent of the cryptocurrency market. Now, it seems this prediction is step by step becoming a reality.
Prediction Markets Decouple from Crypto Market to Form Independent Ecosystem: Funds, Industry Alliances, Data Services, APIs Form a Closed Loop
In the current era where AI is becoming a major driving force in the global economic system, prediction markets have become another rare fast-growing赛道, and their closed-loop ecosystem is also rapidly improving.
Apart from the industry fund raising $35 million mentioned above, the prediction market industry is gradually building its own underlying infrastructure, industry organizations, and application platforms.
Last December, Coinbase announced the acquisition of The Clearing Company, a prediction market platform founded by former employees of Kalshi, Polymarket, etc. Although the specific amount of the acquisition was not disclosed, the company had previously completed a $15 million seed round of financing and was one of the challengers with strong momentum in the industry.
During the same period, five well-known institutions—Kalshi, Crypto.com, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Underdog—jointly announced the establishment of the Coalition for Prediction Markets (CPM). Recommended reading"Kalshi Allies with Coinbase, Robinhood, etc., Aiming to End the 'Casino Theory'".
At the end of last year, Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour called for the inaugural Prediction Market Conference to be held in March 2026. Researchers, economists, policymakers, and traders will gather to discuss core issues surrounding prediction markets and knowledge aggregation.
In February of this year, Polymarket officially announced its second official acquisition, declaring the acquisition of the prediction market API startup Dome. The latter was a Y Combinator Fall 2025 incubation project, providing a unified prediction market API to help developers build applications, trading bots, and data dashboards that can simultaneously connect to multiple platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. It had previously received a $500,000 investment from YC and completed a $4.7 million seed round of financing. Its first official acquisition was the earlier acquisition of the US-licensed derivatives exchange QCEX,借此 enabling its smooth return to the US market.
And with the increasing trading volume of the industry, data analysis platforms targeting prediction market platforms have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, including: Parity, Predictefy, KalshiData.
Furthermore, on-chain trading tools and AI Agent trading tools for Polymarket are too numerous to mention individually, such as Insiders.bot, Hubble ai, and the AgentCard launched by Alchemy.
It is no exaggeration to say that the upper, middle, and lower streams of prediction markets are currently full of investment and entrepreneurial opportunities. Subsequently, we will also gradually discuss this in the series of articles "Crypto Bear Market Entrepreneurship Guide".
The Trend is Set, Awaiting the Bloom
Previously, Kalshi ranked first in the market value of prediction market platforms with a valuation of $22 billion, significantly higher than many traditional sports betting platforms like FanDuel (also known as Flutter, $19 billion), DraftKings ($12.75 billion), and bet365 ($12 billion).
Coupled with the previous statements by US CFTC Chairman Mike Selig that prediction markets could become "truth machines" and that regulatory rules are being formulated and relevant talents are being recruited for them, it is clear that prediction markets are no longer a niche赛道 within the crypto market as before, but have become a major landmark emerging industry in the golden age of the US financial market.
Although there are reports that US lawmakers will propose a bipartisan bill to prohibit prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi from predicting sports events, this is yet another example of prediction markets moving from the边缘 to the mainstream.
After all, the survey fact that over 36% of US voters are users of prediction market platforms cannot be ignored, and the monthly rising trading volume data of platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket do not lie.
Recommended Reading
Why Prediction Markets Are Truly Not Gambling Platforms
The Future Battle of Prediction Markets: To the Left is the Casino, to the Right is News
Still Not Enough? Prediction Market Dual Giants Set Their Sights on Payments and AI Big Cakes
2025 Prediction Market Review: Total Transaction Volume Exceeds $50 Billion, Dual Giants Market Share Exceeds 97.5%
