If you have ever wanted to place a financial bet on who wins the Super Bowl, what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates, or whether it will snow in New York City next Tuesday — Kalshi is the platform that makes it legal, regulated, and real. In just a few years, it has gone from a startup idea between two MIT classmates to a $22 billion company backed by some of the biggest names in American finance. And it has done all of this while fighting off lawsuits from multiple state governments, winning landmark court battles, and turning its two founders into billionaires before either of them turned 30.
So who actually owns Kalshi? Here is the complete, verified story.
What Is Kalshi?
Kalshi Inc. is a prediction market platform based in Manhattan, New York City, that launched publicly in July 2021. It is the first federally regulated event-contract exchange in the United States, meaning it is the first and only platform of its kind to receive official approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
On Kalshi, users trade “yes” or “no” contracts on the outcomes of real-world events — from NFL games and NBA championships to Federal Reserve interest rate decisions, weather patterns, award show winners, and political outcomes. If you think something is going to happen, you buy a contract. If you think it will not, you sell one. The price of each contract reflects the market’s collective opinion of how likely that event is to occur.
The platform is used primarily for sports betting, which constitutes more than 90% of site activity and 89% of revenue in 2025. Kalshi has raised a total of $2.8 billion across 11 funding rounds from 59 investors, and as of May 2026, it is valued at $22 billion.
Who Owns Kalshi Right Now?
Kalshi Inc. is a privately held company co-founded and controlled by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, who each hold an estimated 12% ownership stake. Together, their combined 24% stake gives them substantial influence over the company’s strategic direction.
Venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, and Paradigm hold significant minority positions through successive funding rounds. The remaining ownership is distributed among dozens of institutional and individual investors who participated in earlier rounds.
Each co-founder owns roughly 12% of the company — stakes that were worth over $2.6 billion apiece after the 2026 fundraise.
Kalshi Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Owner / Investor | Type | Stake / Role | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarek Mansour | Co-Founder & CEO | ~12% equity | MIT graduate; former Goldman Sachs and Citadel trader |
| Luana Lopes Lara | Co-Founder & President | ~12% equity | MIT graduate; world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire (Dec 2025) |
| Sequoia Capital | Lead VC Investor | Significant minority stake | Led the Series A ($30M); participated in all major rounds |
| Coatue Management | Lead VC Investor (2026) | Significant minority stake | Led the $1B Series F round at $22B valuation in May 2026 |
| Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) | Venture Capital | Significant minority stake | Participated in multiple funding rounds |
| Paradigm | Crypto & VC Firm | Significant minority stake | Led two investment rounds; board representation |
| Charles Schwab | Strategic Individual Investor | Undisclosed | Chairman of Charles Schwab Corporation; joined at Series A |
| Henry Kravis | Strategic Individual Investor | Undisclosed | Co-founder of private equity giant KKR; joined at Series A |
| Morgan Stanley | Institutional Investor | Undisclosed | Joined in the 2026 Series F round |
| ARK Invest (Cathie Wood) | Institutional Investor | Undisclosed | Joined in the 2026 Series F; uses Kalshi data for strategy |
| Donald Trump Jr. | Strategic Advisor | No equity disclosed | Joined as Strategic Advisor in January 2025 |
The Two Founders: Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara
Kalshi was founded in 2018 by MIT classmates Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara as a financial exchange where users trade contracts on the outcomes of real-world events.
Tarek Mansour is the CEO and public face of Kalshi. Born in Egypt, Mansour grew up in Dubai before attending MIT, where he studied finance and computer science. Before founding Kalshi, he worked at Goldman Sachs in their trading division, gaining direct experience with exchange infrastructure and derivatives markets. His background in both technology and traditional finance positioned him perfectly for the challenge of building a brand-new type of financial exchange from scratch.
Luana Lopes Lara is Kalshi’s co-founder and President. A Brazilian native and former professional ballerina who studied computer science at MIT, Lopes Lara became the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire in December 2025, when Kalshi raised $1 billion and its valuation quintupled in less than six months to $11 billion. She played a central role in the company’s early product development and regulatory strategy, and her technical expertise was critical in designing the exchange’s matching engine and risk management systems.
The two met at MIT in the late 2010s and noticed that a huge amount of financial trading stemmed from people’s opinions on future events — but there was no regulated, legal way to trade on those opinions in the United States. That gap was the founding insight behind Kalshi.
The CFTC Battle: How Kalshi Became Legitimate
The most important chapter in Kalshi’s early history is not about fundraising or growth — it is about a multi-year regulatory fight that determined whether the company would even be allowed to exist.
Kalshi was designed from day one to be fully compliant with U.S. regulations. Unlike offshore prediction markets that operate in legal gray areas, Kalshi applied for official designation as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). After more than two years in regulatory limbo, the company secured approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in November 2020, becoming the first federally-regulated event-contract exchange in the U.S., and launched publicly in July 2021.
That regulatory approval is Kalshi’s single most important competitive advantage. No other prediction market in America has received this designation. It is what allows Kalshi to operate legally, partner with mainstream financial institutions, and attract major institutional investors who would never touch an unregulated gambling platform.
The Funding Story: From $30 Million to $22 Billion in Five Years
Kalshi’s fundraising journey is one of the most dramatic valuation stories in recent American startup history.
The company’s first major capital raise was a $30 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital. That round also brought in Charles Schwab, the chairman of Charles Schwab Corporation, and Henry Kravis, co-founder of private equity giant KKR — two names that immediately gave Kalshi enormous credibility on Wall Street.
Kalshi took off in 2024, when a federal court ruling cleared the way for it to list election contracts just before the U.S. presidential election, triggering a surge in trading volume. That massive traction has since been compounded by an aggressive push into sports, which accounts for more than 70% of platform activity.
In December 2025, Kalshi raised $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation — landing both founders on the Forbes billionaires list for the first time. Then, just six months later in May 2026, Kalshi announced it raised $1 billion in fresh capital that doubled its valuation and two co-founders’ fortunes to $2.6 billion. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest.
Kalshi has now raised a total of $2.8 billion across 11 funding rounds from 59 investors.
The Legal Battles: States vs. Kalshi
Kalshi’s growth has not come without serious legal challenges. While the CFTC considers Kalshi a regulated financial exchange, multiple U.S. states argue it is running an illegal gambling operation.
The rapid growth of prediction markets has drawn critics who liken these markets to gambling, particularly from state regulators who govern and tax gambling operations. At least 10 states are pursuing legal action against Kalshi, arguing its sports markets should be classified as gambling and regulated by states. While Kalshi has won injunctions in New Jersey and Tennessee, it has lost in Maryland, Ohio, Nevada, and Massachusetts.
On March 27, 2026, the state of Washington filed a lawsuit against Kalshi, alleging that the company has been operating in violation of state laws concerning illegal gambling. On the same day, Kalshi filed a notice of removal to federal court, arguing that the charges concern federally regulated derivatives.
The United States Senate banned its senators and their staff from betting on prediction markets such as Kalshi in May 2026.
The central legal question — whether Kalshi’s sports contracts are financial derivatives regulated by the CFTC or gambling products regulated by individual states — is still being decided in courts across the country.
Kalshi’s Major Partnerships
Despite the legal battles, Kalshi has built an impressive network of corporate and media partnerships that signal mainstream acceptance at the highest levels.
Robinhood and Coinbase offer Kalshi markets to their users, while CNN, CNBC, and Fox Corporation use Kalshi data in their reporting. Billionaire Jeff Yass’ hedge fund Susquehanna International Group joined Kalshi as a market maker in April 2024, providing liquidity to its markets.
These partnerships are significant. Having CNBC and CNN display Kalshi odds on television during major events is the kind of mainstream media distribution that most startups can only dream of — and it drives new user acquisition at zero cost to Kalshi.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns Kalshi in 2026?
Kalshi is privately owned by co-founders Tarek Mansour (~12%) and Luana Lopes Lara (~12%), with the rest held by investors including Sequoia Capital, Coatue, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Q2. Who founded Kalshi and when?
Kalshi was founded in 2018 by MIT classmates Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara in San Francisco, and launched publicly in July 2021.
Q3. How much is Kalshi worth in 2026?
Kalshi is valued at $22 billion as of May 2026, following a $1 billion Series F funding round led by Coatue Management.
Q4. Is Kalshi publicly traded?
No. Kalshi is a private company — its shares are not available on any public stock exchange as of 2026.
Q5. Who are the biggest investors in Kalshi?
The biggest investors include Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, ARK Invest, Charles Schwab, and Henry Kravis.
Q6. How much has Kalshi raised in total funding?
Kalshi has raised a total of $2.8 billion across 11 funding rounds from 59 investors as of May 2026.
Q7. Is Kalshi legal in the United States?
Kalshi is federally regulated by the CFTC, but at least 10 states are pursuing legal action, arguing its sports markets constitute illegal gambling under state law.
Q8. Who is the CEO of Kalshi?
Tarek Mansour is the CEO and co-founder of Kalshi, a role he has held since the company’s founding in 2018.
Kalshi is a privately held company co-founded and controlled by Tarek Mansour (CEO) and Luana Lopes Lara (President), who each own approximately 12% of the company. Together they hold around 24% of total equity, with the rest distributed across major venture capital firms — primarily Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz, and Paradigm — along with strategic individual investors including Charles Schwab and Henry Kravis.
Founded in 2018, launched in 2021, and now valued at $22 billion after raising $2.8 billion across 11 rounds, Kalshi has become the most valuable prediction market company in American history. Both founders are 29-year-old billionaires. The company is expanding aggressively, fighting legal battles in 10+ states, and has its eyes set on becoming the infrastructure layer for how America — and eventually the world — prices opinion about the future.