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Two early Kalshi alumni are raising up to $35M for 5c(c) Capital, a fund backed by Kalshi and Polymarket CEOs to invest in market makers, indices and tooling for prediction markets.<\/p>\n
\n Summary<\/span>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Former employees of regulated prediction market venue\u00a0Kalshi<\/a>\u00a0are raising up to $35 million for a new venture fund aimed squarely at the fast\u2011maturing prediction market ecosystem, according to a filing and people familiar with the effort. The vehicle, called\u00a05c(c) Capital, is being led by two early Kalshi team members and plans to back roughly 20 startups over the next two years, with a focus on market makers, index design, and core infrastructure for event\u2011driven trading. It arrives as on\u2011chain and regulated prediction platforms such as Kalshi and\u00a0Polymarket<\/a>\u00a0see sustained double\u2011digit\u2011billion monthly volumes and intensifying institutional interest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fund has already secured backing from\u00a0Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour\u00a0and\u00a0Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, alongside investors linked to Andreessen Horowitz, Ribbit Capital, and Multicoin Capital, ChainCatcher reported. That cross\u2011platform support is striking given the public rivalry between the two founders, with Coplan previously dismissing Kalshi as \u201ca Polymarket copycat\u201d in media appearances as both firms compete for liquidity, listings, and regulatory terrain. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing now is investors underwriting the rails and tools that make these markets possible, not just the flagship venues,\u201d said one person involved in the raise, who was not authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n The timing underscores how prediction markets have shifted from a speculative niche to a recognized piece of financial market plumbing. In February, Kalshi processed about\u00a0$9.8 billion<\/strong>\u00a0in trading volume, ahead of Polymarket\u2019s roughly\u00a0$7.6 billion<\/strong>, with the wider sector reaching\u00a0$23.4 billion<\/strong>\u00a0in activity, according to recent industry research. On both venues, ultra\u2011short\u2011term \u201cup or down in five minutes\u201d contracts on major crypto assets now drive a majority of crypto\u2011linked trading flows, blurring the line between hedging and high\u2011frequency gambling.<\/p>\n That growth has attracted heavyweight venture capital and large, liquidity\u2011provisioning firms looking for new ways to price political risk, macro data, and digital asset volatility. By concentrating<\/a> on market\u2011making, indices, and tooling rather than consumer\u2011facing platforms, 5c(c) Capital is effectively betting that prediction markets will resemble an exchange stack: a handful of front\u2011ends sitting atop a deepening<\/a> layer of specialized infrastructure. If the fund reaches its full\u00a0$35 million<\/strong>\u00a0target and deploys into 20 companies, average check sizes would sit in the mid\u2011single\u2011digit millions, enough to anchor seed rounds for the next generation of teams building liquidity engines, risk systems, and structured products for event\u2011driven trading.<\/p>\n According to crypto.news\u2019 analysis<\/a> of five\u2011minute crypto contracts on Polymarket and Kalshi, its breakdown of February\u2019s $23.4 billion prediction volume, and ongoing coverage of venture capital flowing into event\u2011driven trading platforms.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n