Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, Founders Fund, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin led a $70 million fundraising effort for Polymarket, a platform that enables betting on political events.
According to Bloomberg, Polymarket has raised $70 million across two funding rounds as betting on the 2024 US presidential election gains momentum. Polymarket’s latest Series B funding round was led by Founders Fund, raising $45 million.
Despite the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed ban on betting on political contests, the cryptocurrency-based prediction market continues to thrive. In response to the proposed ban, Joey Krug, Partner at Founders Fund, said:
A lot of the reasons why some people don’t like prediction markets in the United States is due to hard-line thinking about betting. This is good for Polymarket in the short to medium term as it targets non-US markets. In the long run, it would be good if Americans could participate in this market as well.
According to Krug, the Founders Fund investment represents its first venture into event betting contracts.
Polymarket has been fined by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the past and agreed to reduce its US services as part of the settlement. The platform has since appointed former CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo as chair of the platform’s advisory board, in an attempt to repair its relationship with regulators.
Polymarket has seen a high volume of bets, especially with the US presidential election approaching. The platform, known for facilitating bets on various events, allows users to buy shares with Circle USD (USDC), without having to save customer funds.
Polymarket, led by 25-year-old founder Shane Coplan, has seen a boom in election betting, resulting in more than $170 million in bets being placed on the upcoming US election – according to the platform’s website.
When we think about the US market as well as investing and researching it, we know that this is probably not something that will pay off right away. Ultimately, we have a deep conviction that markets for all the things people wonder about and have opinions about will exist.
Despite recent successful funding rounds and the fact that the platform is not currently generating revenue, regulatory setbacks have reduced Polymarket’s current valuation – which was previously estimated at around $1 billion.
