Polymarket valuation hits $21bn as Trump Jr's firm leads $1bn round

Polymarket, the blockchain-based prediction-market platform, is raising $1 billion in a new funding round that values the company at $21 billion on a post-money basis. The round is being led by 1789 Capital, the venture firm co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., which is expected to contribute around $300 million of the total. That comes on top of roughly $200 million that 1789 Capital had already put into Polymarket, taking the firm's combined stake to around $500 million once the round closes. The new valuation marks a 40% increase from the $15 billion price tag Polymarket secured in April, when it brought in backers including D.E. Shaw and venture firm G Squared. Bloomberg had reported earlier in the month that Polymarket was already in early talks to raise capital at a valuation above $20 billion. The Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, remains Polymarket's largest shareholder with a stake of around 22%. 1789 Capital first made a strategic investment in Polymarket last year, around the same time Donald Trump Jr. joined the company's advisory board as a partner at the firm. The Trump family's links to prediction markets have widened as Donald Trump's administration has broadly supported the industry and pushed back against efforts by individual states to regulate it. Congressional Democrats have opened an inquiry into 1789 Capital's expansion and its ties to sectors that are federally supervised, according to reports. Polymarket has spent the past year courting institutional users, striking partnerships with firms including Palantir and pursuing regulatory approval to offer margin trading to professional investors in the Uni...