Polymarket Valued at $9 Billion After NYSE Owner Invests $2B in Prediction Market

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said on Tuesday that the prediction-market platform will receive up to a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE, linking the startup with the owner of the 233-year-old New York Stock Exchange.

On X, Coplan said the deal gives Polymarket a post-money valuation of $9 billion, while a partnership with ICE will allow for the distribution of Polymarket’s data to “thousands of financial institutions around the world” through the company’s financial infrastructure.

Although a press release said the investment would be worth “up to $2 billion,” a Polymarket spokesperson told Decrypt that it was accurate to call it a $2 billion investment.

Last year, Polymarket saw mainstream adoption as U.S. election data was incorporated into Bloomberg’s Terminal service, but Coplan said that ICE founder, Chairman, and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher is focused on using blockchain to augment the financial system more broadly.

“Jeff is all-in on utilizing his assets, including NYSE, to usher in a new financial era of tokenization,” Coplan said, underscoring ICE’s “institutional scale and credibility.”

Tuesday’s deal gives Polymarket another high-profile backer, following agreements notched with the world’s richest man and the U.S. president’s son this year. 

Polymarket said that it had become X’s official prediction market in June, following shoutouts from tech CEO Elon Musk. Donald Trump Jr. joined Polymarket as an advisor in August following an investment from 1789 Capital, where he serves as a partner.

Kalsi, Polymarket’s biggest competitor, said that it was worth $2 billion following a $185 million funding round in June. Unlike Polymarket, Kalshi isn’t primarily powered by blockchain, though it does accept crypto payments—and it showed signs of surpassing Coplan’s firm in terms of volume last month.

In a blog post, ICE said the deal reflected an $8 billion pre-investment valuation. The announcement noted that ICE and Polymarket have agreed to work on “future tokenization initiatives” that use digital representations of real-world assets.

The company at the heart of U.S. finance noted that Polymarket’s platform reflects price predictions, yet touches elements of politics, sports, and culture. In a statement, Sprecher called Polymarket a “forward-thinking, revolutionary company” that’s pioneering change.

Polymarket was founded in 2020, and Coplan noted on X that “the past two years have been surreal,” as the company has gone from being little-known to prized on Wall Street. 

He added that supporters who have been with the platform since the beginning “will not be forgotten,” a promise that could stoke further speculation around a potential airdrop.