Trump Jr's Firm Leads $1B Polymarket Funding Round
Donald Trump Jr's venture capital firm 1789 Capital is leading a new $1 billion funding round for Polymarket that values the prediction market at $21 billion, a spokesperson for the firm told CoinDesk on Monday.
The round lifts Polymarket's valuation by roughly 40% from the $15 billion mark it reached earlier this year, even as the platform fights a wave of state lawsuits over whether its sports contracts amount to gambling.
1789 Capital spokesperson Alexa Henning said the firm is contributing about $300 million to the new round, on top of roughly $200 million it had already invested in Polymarket.
The $21 billion valuation would mark another sharp jump for a company that Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, valued at $9 billion when it took a $2 billion stake in October 2025.
A Family's Growing Stake in Prediction Markets
Trump Jr's involvement in the sector predates this round. He became an adviser to rival platform Kalshi in 2025 and received shares reported to be worth more than $300,000, and he separately advises Polymarket, according to CoinDesk.
His father, president Donald Trump, wrote on Truth Social in May that prediction markets would thrive under his administration.
Michael Selig, Trump's appointee to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has publicly praised prediction market platforms and had the agency sue several states that tried to regulate them.
Money Meets A Legal Headwind
The new funding lands three days after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Nevada can apply its state gambling laws to Kalshi's sports event contracts, rejecting the argument that federal derivatives law preempts state gaming regulation.
That decision conflicts with an earlier Third Circuit ruling that favored the platforms, a split that increases the odds of Supreme Court review. Investors backing Polymarket at a higher valuation now are, in effect, betting that federal oversight through the CFTC will ultimately hold even as individual states push back in court.
Polymarket and Kalshi both let users trade on the outcome of real-world events, from elections to sports results, a product that regulators in 20 states argue is functionally the same as the wagers offered by licensed sportsbooks.
Whether that argument holds up at the Supreme Court, rather than the size of Polymarket's next funding round, is likely to determine how big the prediction market industry is allowed to become in the United States.
Refer to Cashback Terms & Conditions for full program terms.
