20VC: Kalshi's $1BN Raise, the Polymarket Feud, and the Battle to Replace Traditional Media
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 693 Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tarek Mansour is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Kalshi, the leader in the world of prediction markets. Just last week, they announced their $1BN raise at an $11BN valuation. In total, they have raised $1.59BN from some of the best, including Sequoia, a16z, General Catalyst, IVP, Meritech, and more. They also last week announced exclusive partnerships with CNN and CNBC, marking their move into mainstream media and news.
AGENDA:
03:28 Why Did Kalshi Need to Raise $1BN
10:35 Why is Kalshi vs Polymarket Such a Fierce Rivalry?
20:44 The Future of Prediction Markets
25:09 Why Does Kalshi Partner with CNN When They Could Replace Them?
26:27 Why Did Tarek Fight For the Rights of his Early Investors So Much?
27:25 What Makes Alfred Lin The Best?
29:19 Does Having Sequoia as an Investor Change the Game?
36:58 Are Teenage Founders Today Emotionally Ready to Lead Companies
38:30 Quick Fire Round: Celebrity Investors, Relationships with Parents
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think this is kind of what happened with Calci in the election is a bit of a chat GPT moment for our industry. |
| 0:04.0 | An industry truly becomes an industry when there's a rivalry. |
| 0:08.0 | Without Polymarket, we wouldn't have pushed our marketing and pushed our product as hard. |
| 0:13.0 | Did you ever cross pass with SBF? And what did you learn from observing FTS's implosion? |
| 0:19.0 | This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings, |
| 0:21.2 | and Kalshi is one of the fastest growing companies on the planet right now. |
| 0:25.0 | In the last week, they announced their $1 billion raise, |
| 0:27.7 | and an $11 billion valuation. |
| 0:29.9 | They announced partnerships with CNN and CNBC, |
| 0:32.7 | and today their founder Tarek joins me for his only interview |
| 0:36.6 | following these announcements |
| 0:38.0 | to give me the exclusive lowdown. |
| 0:40.1 | But before we dive into the show today, are you drowning in AI tools, chat GPT for writing, |
| 0:46.1 | notion for docs, Gmail for email, Slack for comms, and you're constantly copy pasting |
| 0:51.7 | between them all losing context and losing time. |
| 0:55.5 | This is the AI productivity tax and it's killing your output. |
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