is seeking an additional US$400 million in funding, according to people familiar with the negotiations, after securing US$600 million at a
last month.
The new deal brings the
startup’s value up from US$9 billion last year, when
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE)
, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, took a US$1 billion stake in Polymarket in a blockbuster deal. Polymarket, though, is now worth less than the US$22 billion valuation that its main rival,
, fetched in a recent US$1 billion
.
Prediction market exchanges are attracting booming trading volume on financial contracts tied to the outcome of sports games, elections and many other events.
The latest money from ICE came after the exchange group announced last year that it planned to invest up to US$2 billion into Polymarket. ICE now has a stake of roughly US$1.6 billion, and said last month that it has “completed its obligations” under the plan. Details of the fundraising were first reported by The Information.
Polymarket is considering whether to raise the additional US$400 million from new investors at the US$15 billion valuation, which includes the new money, or wait until it can attract a higher valuation, said one of the people, who asked not to be named discussing private conversations.
Polymarket and ICE declined to comment.
State gaming regulators have said that prediction markets should be governed by state gambling regulations and have sought to shut them down in court. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, though, has fought states and said that the exchanges come under the agency’s federal oversight and can operate nationwide.
Polymarket is testing out a new United States app, but its main business is an international exchange that is not open to U.S. customers.
In March, notional trading volume on Polymarket reached US$10.6 billion, or six times what it was just six months earlier, according to user-compiled data on Dune Analytics.
—With assistance from Todd Gillespie.