Original Title: "Both CEOs of the Two Leading Prediction Market Platforms Stand Together, What Is the Background of This ‘Novice’ Fund?"
Original Author: Nicky, Foresight News
The two biggest competitors in the prediction market field have reached an agreement on one matter.
On March 23, according to Fortune magazine, former Kalshi employee Adhi Rajaprabhakaran and Noah Zingler-Sternig are establishing a venture capital fund named 5c(c) Capital, aiming to raise up to $35 million, focusing on investments in prediction market startups, and are expected to complete the first round of fundraising within next month.
This fund has received joint investment from Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, making the rare collaboration of the two leading platform CEOs a milestone event in the prediction market field.
In addition to the CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket, early supporters of the fund include venture capital giant Marc Andreessen (participating through Moneta Luna fund), Ribbit Capital founder Micky Malka, and former co-founder of Multicoin Capital Kyle Samani.
Marc Andreessen is a co-founder of a16z, while Kyle Samani announced on February 5 of this year that he stepped down from his position at Multicoin Capital and left the firm, both of their participation underscores the fund's uniqueness and importance. Elena Silenok, founder and managing partner of Moneta Luna, expressed full confidence in Adhi's investment capabilities. Kyle stated in a statement that the coming years are a critical period for building infrastructure around prediction markets.
Kalshi and Polymarket's competitive relationship is no secret. The former follows a compliance path regulated by the CFTC, while the latter adopts a crypto-native model. The two platforms have long been in opposition regarding user acquisition, market share, and even regulatory battles. However, when Klashi's early employees come out to raise funds, the two CEOs chose to appear together on the investor list.
The logic behind this move is not complex. The explosive growth of prediction markets has exceeded everyone’s expectations: Kalshi's valuation has skyrocketed from $2 billion in June 2025 to $22 billion in March, while Polymarket also received a $2 billion strategic investment from Intercontinental Exchange in October 2025, bringing its current valuation to $20 billion.
However, the bottlenecks in industry growth have become increasingly apparent, such as insufficient depth in market making, lack of index products, and fragmented infrastructure, all of which cannot be solved by a single platform alone. Perhaps in the eyes of the two CEOs, supporting a fund focused on ecological infrastructure is more valuable than continuing to consume each other on the existing track. Instead of fighting individually, it is better to collectively expand the pie.
The name 5c(c) Capital comes from Section 5c(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act, titled "New Contracts, New Rules." The fund’s official website explains that this naming reflects its core philosophy: lasting innovation arises from the combination of new ideas and regulated supervision. Several media outlets have described this fund as the first dedicated VC fund in the history of the prediction market field.
According to the fundraising documents, the fund plans to invest in about 20 companies over the next two years, covering market makers in the prediction market, index design tools, and other infrastructure projects surrounding event contracts.
Market makers are the core of liquidity in prediction markets. Currently, the open interest in prediction markets has reached $924 million, but most contracts still face issues such as excessive bid-ask spreads and insufficient depth. Professional market makers can provide continuous quotes for various event contracts, lowering user trading costs and improving market efficiency.
Index design tools are key to upgrading prediction markets from "single-event speculation" to combinable financial products. Just like traditional financial markets have indices such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, prediction markets also need standardized index products to help users track the overall performance of a particular category of event contracts. The infrastructure level includes a series of supporting systems from order book design, clearing mechanisms to compliance frameworks.
These links together constitute the "upstream and downstream" of prediction markets, which is a complete ecosystem, rather than just a few trading platforms.
5c(c) Capital was co-founded by two early employees of Kalshi. Adhi Rajaprabhakaran serves as founding managing partner, having joined Kalshi's associated market-making firm in 2022, becoming the team’s second professional trader with over five years of trading experience in prediction markets. He also operates a Substack column named "50¢ Dollars," focusing on regulation and commercial analysis of prediction markets, and hosts a related podcast. Adhi holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor's degree in economics and data science from Michigan State University.
Noah Zingler-Sternig serves as founding general partner, having previously served as operations manager at Kalshi, responsible for market support, trader services, and Robinhood integration projects. His experience in prediction markets dates back to high school (around 2017), when he earned over $100,000 trading in prediction markets to pay for college tuition. Noah graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor's degree in finance, investment, and banking, having previously worked as an analyst in JPMorgan's commercial banking division.
Fund advisor Ella Papanek also has a solid background in prediction markets. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in statistics and previously worked as a quantitative sports trader at Susquehanna International Group (SIG) for about three years, and was an early testing user and active participant in prediction markets such as Augur, Kalshi, and Polymarket. She is also a competitive chess player, previously ranking among the top 100 women in the U.S.
The rapid expansion of prediction markets has also attracted regulatory attention. As Kalshi and Polymarket expand their platforms into the sports betting market, U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and John Curtis will submit a bipartisan bill this week aimed at prohibiting entities regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) (including U.S. platforms of Kalshi and Polymarket) from offering contracts related to sporting events.
In mid-March, the Attorney General of Arizona, Kris Mayes, filed a criminal lawsuit against Kalshi, alleging that while Kalshi claims to be a "prediction market," it is actually engaged in illegal gambling activities and accepts bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law.
Despite facing legal challenges, the fundraising documents for 5c(c) Capital still describe prediction markets as "generational investment opportunities." The two founders hope to leverage their industry experience and network to provide capital and operational support for this emerging ecosystem. The fund’s official website states: "We believe that event contracts and prediction markets will fundamentally change the way we understand risk-taking." This viewpoint is also reflected in terms of data and capital.
According to Dune data, as of March 24, prior to publication, the number of independent users in prediction markets has exceeded 2.8 million, with open interest reaching $924 million, nominal trading volume soaring to $152.4 billion, and total transactions amounting to 672 million. In the past week, the nominal trading volume exceeded $6.4 billion.
Kalshi is currently undergoing a new round of financing with a valuation of $22 billion, led by Coatue Management, with financing exceeding $1 billion; its competitor Polymarket is negotiating financing with potential investors at an approximate valuation of $20 billion.
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