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Kalshi

Trading platform for future event outcomes

21-100 employees
  • Fintech
  • B2C
  • Lifestyle
  • Marketplace
  • Investing
  • Trading
594 Broadway, New York, NY, US

Company mission

To allow people to capitalize on their opinions and hedge risks that relate to their everyday lives.

Insights

Female leader
Top investors

Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

-16% employee growth in 12 months

Otta's take

Sam Franklin headshot

Sam Franklin

CEO of Otta

Despite there being a broad choice of investment models, traders have not traditionally been able to invest in the outcomes of future events. Kalshi, as the first federally regulated exchange where users can invest, trade and essentially "bet" on future outcomes, sets out to change this.

The company has launched a unique asset class called "event contracts", where investors can buy simple yes or no contracts based on whether an event will happen or not. Since gaining federal regulation, Kalshi has begun adding expertise in key areas, hiring Google’s Phil Bogle as Director of Engineering and former Nadex CEO Timothy McDermott to the Board of Directors.

The key to the company's future will be maintaining trust with users through transparency, particularly on how more complex or ongoing ‘wagers’ are settled. The team has been backed with funding from Sequoia Capital, who have most likely gauged how valuable the opinion data collected on the site could be to market and political researchers - although the CFTC's reluctance to approve betting on US elections has presented a block in the road for Kalshi's plans to add "the outcome of congressional elections" to its asset options.

Benefits

  • Work from home opportunities

Company values

  • We are a group of people who work hard and get things done
  • Meritocracy is at our core, and we value people who take ownership and figure (usually hard) things out
  • We think of Kalshi as a family bound together by our mission: we believe that this is the best (and most fun!) way to work

Funding (2 rounds)

Feb 2021

$30m

SERIES A

Mar 2019

$0.2m

SEED

$30.2m

Total funding

This company has top investors

Founders

Luana Lopes Lara

(Co-Founder)

Studied Computer Science at MIT. Researcher at MIT in the Media Lab and later the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Worked as a Quantitative Trader at Five Rings Capital and Citadel Securities. Most recently she was a Researcher at the MIT Brain and Cognitive Science Centre.

Tarek Mansour

(Co-Founder)

Studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Started off working in finance, as an Analyst at Audi Capital and Goldman Sachs. Was a Quantitative Trader twice at Five Rings Capital and Citadel Securities.

Jobs (8)

All locations

Software Engineering

Finance, Legal & Compliance