Polymarket locked in $2 billion in new funding this year while Kalshi raked in $1.3 billion, setting the pace in a year when fintech companies finally clawed their way back into the venture capital scene.
Both companies, which let users bet on real-world events, became the biggest winners in 2025’s startup financing sweep, drawing the largest U.S. rounds and two of the top five globally.
The data comes from PitchBook, which tracked a total $55.94 billion raised by fintechs worldwide this year, up 25% from $44.75 billion last year. But 2025’s total is still far from the $123.99 billion thrown around in 2021. That was when interest rates were basically zero, and investors were chasing anything with a website and a pitch deck.
Polymarket and Kalshi outshine Plaid, Stripe and everyone else
Polymarket pulled in its $2 billion round in October at a $9 billion valuation, but it plans to raise again with a valuation between $12 billion and $15 billion, Bloomberg said in October. That would push it ahead of some of the big legacy names like Plaid and Stripe, which didn’t raise anything near this scale in 2025.
Kalshi, meanwhile, raised $300 million in October, then locked in another $1 billion by December. Its valuation now stands at $11 billion. These rounds didn’t just beat out crypto competitors. They beat out everyone. The size alone is unusual, especially after a dry spell where deals this big just stopped happening.
Matt Streisfeld, general partner at Oak HC/FT, said this kind of activity is rare. “We have not seen these types of very large primary capital raises in some time,” he said. He’s been watching capital concentrate around a smaller group of companies, and he’s not surprised to see the money piling into places like Polymarket and Kalshi.
“You’re going to see more doubling down on the perceived market winners in each category,” Matt said. “The last thing we need is 10 new players to be added to the actual five players that are already in the market.”
The overall number of deals in 2025 dropped to 3,712, down 19% from 2024. That funding just got funneled into fewer hands. Companies that already had a foothold got even bigger, while newer players had a harder time getting in.
Trump’s lighter rules help fintech raise cash and go public
The regulatory environment has also changed under President Donald Trump, who returned to office in 2025. With restrictions eased, especially around banking relationships, fintechs are finding it easier to grow. That’s pulling in more investors.
Matt said the money is chasing “greater commercial adoption,” and that is helping crypto companies too.
This year, Coinbase landed partnerships with both Citigroup and PNC, showing how crypto platforms are finally plugging into the traditional banking system in a way that actually matters.
While some critics say the rule changes are happening too fast, it’s a sharp contrast to the chaos of 2021. That year was all about fantasy growth projections and marketing. Now, there’s more scrutiny, and investors want actual numbers. “A lot of the craze that happened in ’21 was based off projected growth,” Matt said. “That wasn’t a bad mentality, it was just that companies were being valued at these unsustainable compounding growth rates.”
Meanwhile, Ramp Inc. raised around $1 billion through three funding rounds of over $200 million each, and currently sits at a $32 billion valuation, up from $13 billion at the start of the year.
The looser oversight also helped fuel a run of IPOs. This year alone, Circle, Gemini, Chime, Klarna, and Wealthfront all went public, giving their backers a way to finally cash out. And this isn’t over. More fintech listings are expected in 2026.
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