Peter Thiel’s venture heads the nine-digit Series C, which values the on-chain forecast market at $1 billion, despite US regulators still blocking the platform from the biggest potential audience.
Negotiation-savvy people say traders are poised to raise $200 million with fresh capital led by Peter Tiel’s Founder Fund, from US Presidential Race to Taylor Swift’s tour dates.
The deal, first reported by Bloomberg late Tuesday, will raise Polymate’s post-money valuation to around $1 billion and will be one of the first blockchain native betting venues to claim “unicorn” status.
After a $45 million Series B last May, already backer Founders Fund will double the source called the biggest single investment in the early days of diversified acquisitions so far. Partner Joey Krug told Blockworks that the company’s partners “has developed the habit of checking polymets when breaking news. It has been revealed that polymake is the winner of this market.”
Playing Confessions unfolds the bridge between the Blue Chip Silicon Valley capital and the industry still slipping through the grey edge of US gambling law.
Why does VCS like odds?
Record engagement. Monthly active traders rose above 475,000 during US elections, with open interest reaching $463 million. Markets alone related to the 2024 US election campaign alone have resolved more than $2 billion in bets, giving Polymarket a live demonstration of the “Crowd Wisdom” paper. According to X CEO Linda Yaccarino, with a typing up earlier this month, Elon Musk’s X App Surface Polymarket Ouds will natively natively through Grok AI assistants, allowing the venue to be exposed to more than 600 million users per month.
Regulatory Elephant
For all that momentum, Polymarket remains officially out-of-light to US residents. In January 2022, the company paid a $1.4 million fine to resolve a Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s claim that it hosted an unregistered event-based swap. The site currently geoblocks its US IP address, but the pressure of law enforcement has not been eased. FBI agents searched the New York apartment of founder Shayne Coplan last November.
As the US is the world’s most lucrative betting market, its legal shadow is important. Venture analysts say it makes sense for the Valuation Founders Fund to pay only if Polymarket finally unlocks our access.
Polymarket’s blockchain native model contrasts with Kalshi, a rival in the regulated “cash market.” This spent three years and millions seeking approval from the CFTC to list political contracts on legal costs. Other decentralized participants advertise low-cost and sports-specific markets, but have not yet shown comparable liquidity and have not published a $1 billion North valuation.
Follow the money
DateroundLead InvestorsAmount RawasedPost-Money ValuationStatuct 2020SeedPolychain, Angels $400,000/Aconfirmedjan 2024Series A1KX, Naval Ravikant $25 MREPORTED: $150 MCONFIRMED (Amount); Rating UnverifiedMay 2024Series BFounders Fund, Vitalik Buterin*$45 MREPORTED: $350 MCONFIRMED (Amount and Lead); Not rated July 2025* Series CFounders Fund $200 Expansion: $1 BNOT has been closed. Based on leaks
* Vitalik Buterin joined Series B, but is not officially listed as a lead.
* Series C numbers are from leaks supplied by Bloomberg and remain unconfirmed by the Polymarket or Founders Fund.
Forecast markets have been hovered by financial fringes for decades, but supporters argue that crypto rails allow you to clear transactions cheaper, transparently and importantly without a central bookie. Supporters such as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin call Polymarket “a good social philosophy.” Here, prices compress realistic information faster and faster than polls and critics’ hot take.
However, the same decentralised alarm modifiers that consider event contracts to be unlicensed derivatives. Whether Polymarket can convert headline traction into sustainable, legal, mainstream businesses will determine whether crowd wisdom will ultimately pass compliance tests.
The 9-figure bets from the Founders Fund show that some of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors believe that the odds of regulation will break the path of polymate. Until they do so, the unicorn crown sits on a platform that is still banned from the world’s richest pool of bettors, which may prove the most dangerous bet of all.
It is mentioned in this article
