The Clearing Company, founded by former staff of Polymarket and Kalshi, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $15 million in a seed funding round.
Union Square Ventures led the round, with participation from Haun Ventures, Variant, Coinbase Ventures, and a number of angel investors, including Compound, Rubik, Earl Grey, Cursor Capital, Asylum, Terrance Rohan, Soleio, Furqan Rydhan, Bill Lee, Henri Stern, Elena Nadolinski, Jonah Van Bourg, and Ben Levy.
Toni Gemayel, a former Head of Growth at both Polymarket and Kalshi, serves as CEO, while other team members also come from Polymarket. The startup said it is “building a new kind of prediction market – on-chain, permissionless and regulated.”
Funding and Vision for On-chain Prediction Markets
Prediction markets, which allow participants to wager on outcomes like elections or sports, have gained renewed attention in the U.S. Polymarket, for instance, recorded 286,000 active traders in July, its highest total since April, ending a six-month decline in activity. Kalshi is also expanding, hiring crypto influencer John Wang as Head of Crypto and partnering with Robinhood to enable trading on professional and college football.
The space has also attracted high-profile investors. Donald Trump Jr. recently joined Polymarket’s advisory board after previously taking a strategic advisory role at Kalshi earlier this year.
Despite growing interest, some experts remain cautious. Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin noted that many major prediction markets do not pay interest, making them “very unappealing for hedging.”
The Clearing Company however, highlighted the historical and modern significance of prediction markets. “For as long as humans have gathered, we’ve sought ways to understand the future,” the company said.
“Romans bet on papal succession centuries before prediction market traders chased a 100x on Pope Leo XIV. Pre-WW2, election markets were wildly popular on Wall Street and became the de facto method to aggregate election information.”
The startup emphasized that the next era of prediction markets will be defined by simplicity, creativity, and liquidity. “To scale, markets must be fun to create, seamless to trade, and supported by novel structures that unlock liquidity. We’re just at the start of what’s possible,” the company said.
Engineers and designers interested in contributing to this vision are being invited to join the team as The Clearing Company prepares to bring a new, regulated, and decentralized approach to the prediction market ecosystem.
Also Read: Polymarket Gains Ground as Kalshi Faces Backlash in Crypto Debate
