Trump Jr.’s involvement in the prediction industry extends beyond Polymarket, as he also advises rival firm Kalshi.
Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, is leading a $1 billion funding round that values Polymarket at $21 billion, contributing roughly $300 million in fresh capital on top of the $200 million it had already put into the prediction market platform.
The new round lifts Polymarket’s valuation 40% above the roughly $15 billion mark it carried earlier this year, and it comes as the Trump family’s footprint in prediction markets keeps growing even as regulators in multiple countries and at least one US city move to shut the platforms out.
1789 Capital’s Stake Keeps Growing
1789 Capital spokesperson Alexa Henning said the firm’s total investment in Polymarket now sits at around $500 million combined between the new money and what it put in previously. The $21 billion figure is a jump from the roughly $15 billion valuation Polymarket was working with back in April, when the platform first opened talks on a new funding round.
Polymarket, alongside similar platforms like Kalshi, lets users bet on outcomes ranging from what a president says in a speech to who gets married on a reality show, and both have grown quickly over the past year.
Trump Jr.’s ties to the prediction market industry go beyond Polymarket. He became an adviser to Kalshi in 2025 and received shares in the company worth more than $300,000, and he separately advises Polymarket too.
His father’s administration has also moved in the industry’s favor, with Michael Selig, who heads the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), responsible for regulating prediction markets, speaking favorably of both companies.
However, Polymarket has run into trouble, with Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott and the City Council suing both it and Kalshi last month, accusing them of offering unlicensed sports betting dressed up as event contracts and marketing their products in ways that could make people think they’re legal, regulated sportsbooks.
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The city is seeking penalties and restitution for residents it says were exposed to unregulated gambling.
Trouble Overseas Too
Things are also heating up abroad. As CryptoPotato reported, South Korea ordered domestic access to Polymarket blocked, with regulators there saying the platform’s structure “encourages gambling behavior.”
France, Germany, and Australia have also imposed similar restrictions, and more than 30 countries in total have blocked or limited the platform.
Despite the legal troubles, money has kept flowing into Polymarket, as months before Trump Jr. upped his stake, the firm took on a $600 million investment from Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Exchange, as part of a plan to put up to $2 billion toward expanding into event-based trading.
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