The American platform Kalshi, which operates in the game prediction market, is negotiating a new round of investment that should take the company to a market value of US$40 billion, according to the Financial Times .
Negotiations for further funding for Kalshi are underway after the company raised $1 billion last month, securing a valuation of $22 billion. With the new plan in place, the company will virtually double its value.
This move further consolidates the fortune of the company's co-founder, Brazilian mathematician Luana Lopes Lara, who now tops the ranking of the richest women in the country, according to Forbes' updated list. At 30 years old, she is also the richest young person in the world.
According to the survey, Luana currently has a fortune of US$2.6 billion, followed by Ana Lúcia de Mattos Barretto Villela, who belongs to the founding family of Itaú bank, with US$2.3 billion; and Cristina Junqueira, co-founder of Nubank, with US$1.6 billion.
With the completion of the new funding round and the significant growth in Kalshi's market value, the expectation is that Luana, who is also the company's COO, will see her fortune almost double.
Officially, the company doesn't disclose the exact amount, but the market estimates that the Brazilian company's shareholding is 12%. With the platform valued at US$40 billion, its estimated net worth is US$4.8 billion.
The latest funding round included participation from several Wall Street firms, such as Coatue, Philippe Laffont's investment company, as well as Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Morgan Stanley. In December 2025, Kalshi reached a market value of US$11 billion. At the beginning of last year, it was worth US$5 billion.
Kalshi grew rapidly in the United States and gained significant global prominence following the 2024 US elections, when it predicted that Donald Trump would win the race against Kamala Harris.
The startup has over 90% of its market activity in the United States, in addition to accounting for the majority of the global volume. In the last six months, the annualized trading volume on the platform has more than tripled, going from US$52 billion to US$178 billion.
“There are few categories in recent history that have scaled so rapidly outside of AI,” said Tarek Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, last month. “Event contracting could become a trillion-dollar market, and we’re still in the early stages of that transition.”
The company attracted more than $17 billion in trading volume last month, a significant increase from less than $5 billion a year earlier.
Kalshi's meteoric rise was fueled by the permissive approach of American regulators towards forecasting market companies and by Trump's tacit approval.
In May, the president called several critics of the platforms "scum" in a social media post. In early 2025, the White House leader's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., joined Kalshi as a strategic consultant.
Last week, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the US derivatives regulator, for approving Kalshi's so-called "perpetual" futures contracts, which allow betting on cryptocurrency prices.
Kalshi's product competes with CME futures contracts, which are widely traded on Wall Street.
Sports betting dominates the platform, representing approximately 65% of Kalshi's volume. Combination bets with multiple selections, similar to multiple or accumulator bets, have proven extremely popular since their launch on the platform last September.
Several American states, which play a significant role in regulating gambling in the United States, have filed lawsuits against the company as it has expanded its business. Kalshi has contested the allegations.
