Polymarket
Polymarket operates a blockchain-based, real-money prediction market on the Polygon network where users trade event-outcome contracts across sports, politics, and crypto, and runs a separate CFTC-regulated US exchange (QCX LLC) alongside its international DeFi platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Polymarket does
Polymarket operates a blockchain-based prediction market platform where users trade contracts on the outcomes of real-world events — elections, sports, geopolitics, crypto prices, and pop culture — with prices between 0 and 100 cents representing implied probability. The platform runs on the Polygon network, uses USDC (and its own pUSD stablecoin, which has surpassed $500M in market value with over 1 million holders) as collateral, and resolves markets via UMA's Optimistic Oracle with a challenge window for disputes. The company maintains two distinct operating entities: a CFTC-regulated US exchange called Polymarket US, operated by QCX LLC as a Designated Contract Market, and a separate international DeFi platform at polymarket.com not regulated by the CFTC. Supporting products include a Leaderboard, accuracy metrics, a Rewards program with $50 signup bonuses, and Polysights for AI-powered insider-trading detection.
The business model is a pure transaction-fee take rate on trades across sports, political, crypto, and entertainment event contracts. Over the past year Polymarket has scaled aggressively on event-driven catalysts — particularly the 2024 US elections and the 2026 FIFA World Cup (which alone generated $3.3B+ in volume) — with annualized revenue surpassing $1 billion about six weeks after removing the US waitlist, and daily US trading volume growing from ~$50M in mid-May to over $200M by late June 2026. Go-to-market blends mobile-first product-led growth (60% of World Cup bettors were first-time crypto users), community-led acquisition via Discord/X/TikTok, referral bonuses, and media partnerships with outlets including the New York Post and Fox Sports. The firm has raised $2B from Intercontinental Exchange plus additional venture rounds at valuations reaching $18-20B, and has executed four acquisitions (QCEX, Dome, Brahma, Craft Agents) within roughly twelve months to expand regulatory reach, developer APIs, DeFi infrastructure, and AI-agent capabilities.
Customers are predominantly retail — 1.35 million active users globally, mostly retail crypto users, sports bettors, and election traders — with early institutional traction through ICE's distribution of Polymarket Signals and Sentiment. The company faces active regulatory scrutiny, including an ongoing CFTC investigation into paid social-media influencer practices, a consumer-protection lawsuit from the National Association of Consumer Advocates, and a disclosed $3.1M user-fund security breach via a compromised third-party vendor.
Polymarket firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Polymarket
- Legal name
- Adventure One QSS Inc.
- Website
- https://polymarket.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Polymarket operates a blockchain-based, real-money prediction market on the Polygon network where users trade event-outcome contracts across sports, politics, and crypto, and runs a separate CFTC-regulated US exchange (QCX LLC) alongside its international DeFi platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Polymarket industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Prediction Markets
- NAICS
- Commodity Contracts Intermediation (52316)
- SIC
- Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Prediction Markets & Event Derivatives (Crypto) (FSADAGAG)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Vertical/Specialty Marketplaces (BPAMAGAB)
Keywords
Where Polymarket is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Polymarket business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Trading/Transaction Fees: Platform generates revenue through fees on prediction market trades. Annualized revenue surpassed $1 billion driven by World Cup activity and US exchange launch. Trading volume surged from $50M/day in mid-May to over $200M/day by June 20.
- Sports Contract Trading: Major revenue stream from sports prediction contracts, particularly during FIFA World Cup events. Sports contracts contribute majority of fee-generating volume.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Standard Trading |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Polymarket product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Polymarket is a blockchain-based prediction market platform where users trade on the outcomes of real-world events. It operates as a marketplace where participants buy and sell shares representing probabilistic views on future events such as elections, economic indicators, and current affairs. The platform aggregates crowd-sourced sentiment into tradable prices that function as real-time probability estimates.
Product overview
Polymarket is a crypto-based prediction market platform operating as a single unified product with supporting modules and sub-products. The core platform enables users to trade on real-world event outcomes with prices reflecting implied probability, built on Polygon blockchain using USDC with a separate CFTC-regulated US entity (QCX LLC). The product portfolio includes acquired technologies: Brahma for DeFi infrastructure, Dome for unified API connectivity, and Craft Agents for AI agent capabilities. Supporting modules include pUSD stablecoin, rewards program, leaderboard, and accuracy metrics. The platform is complemented by Polysights, an AI-powered insider trading detection tool.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Polymarket Prediction Market Platform
Quantifiable outcome
- Annualized revenue exceeded $1 billion within 6 weeks of US exchange launch
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Polymarket
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Polymarket technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Polymarket partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- New York PostminorMedia partnership with New York Post for World Cup knockout prediction campaign, publishing promotional codes offering users bonus funds.
- Fox SportsminorMedia partnership with Fox Sports for World Cup promotional campaigns.
- Meta (Arena Partnership Exploration)minorMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg directed team to explore partnerships with Polymarket and Kalshi as Meta develops its own Arena prediction market app. Discussions remain exploratory.
- KrakenminorKraken named Official Crypto Exchange Supporter for FIFA World Cup 2026, running fan activations across 16 host cities in US, Canada, and Mexico.
- Brahma (Acquired)corePolymarket acquired Brahma, a crypto and DeFi infrastructure company that has processed over $1 billion in transactions. The acquisition aims to address liquidity imbalance and improve how liquidity is distributed across markets.
- QCEX (Acquired)corePolymarket acquired QCEX, a US-licensed derivatives exchange, to facilitate reentrance into the US market following regulatory issues with the CFTC. QCX LLC now operates Polymarket US as a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market.
- Dome (Acquired)corePolymarket acquired Dome, a Y Combinator-backed prediction market API startup that provides a unified API connecting platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi to developers. Dome had raised $4.7 million in seed funding.
- World (Worldcoin)minorOpenAI CEO Sam Altman's World (formerly Worldcoin) integrated Polymarket into its World App with over 100 million downloads, allowing users in permitted regions to bet with USDC and Worldcoin tokens.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights8 records
Polymarket competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Kalshi: Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market offering event-contract prediction markets directly competing with Polymarket US in sports, politics, and economic events. Both target US retail and institutional traders with regulated binary-outcome trading.
- PredictIt: PredictIt is a CFTC-licensed (formerly) political prediction market platform offering real-money trading on election and policy outcomes. It is a direct vertical competitor in the political prediction market segment that Polymarket serves.
Broad incumbents
- DraftKings: DraftKings is a major US sports betting and daily fantasy operator with broad consumer brand recognition. It represents the incumbent sportsbook category that prediction markets are increasingly converging with, particularly in sports event contracts.
- FanDuel: FanDuel is a leading US online sportsbook and prediction-adjacent gaming platform owned by Flutter Entertainment. It is a broad incumbent in the sports/event betting category that overlaps with Polymarket's sports prediction markets.
- Betfair Exchange: Betfair operates one of the world's largest betting exchanges with peer-to-peer event contracts across sports and politics. It is a broad incumbent exchange-based platform serving the same event-outcome trading use case as Polymarket.
Emerging players
- Augur: Augur is a decentralized, Ethereum-based prediction market protocol. It is an emerging crypto-native competitor with overlapping DeFi prediction market mechanics, though it lacks Polymarket's scale, liquidity, and US regulatory license.
- Limitless Labs: Limitless is a Base-based crypto prediction market platform targeting similar crypto-native retail traders. It is an emerging competitor in the on-chain prediction market niche with comparable market mechanics but smaller liquidity.
- Meta (Arena): Meta is developing its own prediction market product ("Arena") and has explored partnerships with Polymarket and Kalshi. It is a potential emerging entrant that could leverage Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp distribution to reach prediction market users at unprecedented scale.
Others
- Intercontinental Exchange (ICE): ICE is the NYSE parent and a $2B strategic investor in Polymarket with exclusive data distribution rights. As an infrastructure partner and capital provider, ICE is an enabler rather than a competitor, but its strategic positioning gives it material influence over Polymarket's institutional roadmap.
- UMA Protocol: UMA provides the Optimistic Oracle that Polymarket uses for market resolution. As an enabling infrastructure provider in the prediction market stack, UMA is a critical technology partner whose oracle design underpins Polymarket's dispute resolution mechanism.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Polymarket social profiles
Digital presencePolymarket compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Polymarket financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Polymarket leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Polymarket subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Polymarket funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds13 records
Investors31 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Polymarket M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A4 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Polymarket
What does Polymarket do?
Polymarket is a blockchain-based prediction market platform where users trade on the outcomes of real-world events. It operates as a marketplace where participants buy and sell shares representing probabilistic views on future events such as elections, economic indicators, and current affairs. The platform aggregates crowd-sourced sentiment into tradable prices that function as real-time probability estimates.
Is Polymarket a public or private company?
Polymarket is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Polymarket founded?
Polymarket was founded in 2020. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Polymarket based?
Polymarket is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Polymarket make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Trading/Transaction Fees are the primary driver. The others are sports Contract Trading.
Who are Polymarket's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Kalshi and PredictIt. Broad incumbents are DraftKings, FanDuel and Betfair Exchange. Emerging players are Augur, Limitless Labs and Meta (Arena). Others are Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and UMA Protocol.
Does Polymarket have an API?
Yes. Polymarket offers a public API allowing developers to access market data, create markets, and build on the platform. The API supports market queries, order placement, and real-time market data retrieval across all prediction market categories including World Cup, politics, crypto, esports, Iran, finance, and more. Developer documentation is at docs.polymarket.com/api-reference.
What industry is Polymarket in?
Polymarket's product category is Prediction Markets. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSADAGAG, Prediction Markets & Event Derivatives (Crypto), with a secondary code of BPAMAGAB, Vertical/Specialty Marketplaces. Its NAICS code is 52316 and its SIC code is 6221.