Blockchain-Powered Information Markets Platform Polymarket Raises $4M USD In Funding

Blockchain, Investing, News | October 20, 2020 By:

Decentralized information markets platform Polymarket has raised $4 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Polychain Capital. The round also included prominent tech investors Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Robert Leshner, Tarun Chitra, Josh Hannah, Meltem Demirors, 1confirmation, ParaFi, Jack Herrick, Kal Vepuri, Stani Kulechov, Kain Warwick, Samir Vasavada, Marc Bhargava, and Calvin Liu.

Polymarket is a young, trailblazing startup with an ambitious vision for harnessing free markets to battle fake news and misinformation. The platform offers anyone with an opinion – analysts, policymakers, pundits, and curious professionals – a tasteful place to bet on real-world topical events, and the ability to track unbiased, market-driven forecasts of how the respective events will play out. Polymarket is built on the Ethereum blockchain and utilizes smart contracts and innovative market structures to facilitate open information markets in a non-custodial, fee-less, and transparent manner.

In the three months since the launch of the Beta, Polymarket has become one of the first DeFi applications to attract users outside the crypto space. Polymarket has already successfully offered a variety of markets on the upcoming US Presidential Election, the date of a viable COVID-19 vaccine, the American unemployment rate, the global Coronavirus case count – with new markets being listed regularly. Since launch, Polymarket has garnered over $1 million in trading volume. Resolved markets correctly predicted Microsoft’s failed acquisition of TikTok, the nomination of Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, America’s decreased unemployment rate, NYC’s Phase 4 reopening, and more.

Polymarket will use the latest funding for the Stage 2 of its Beta, which aims to make it significantly easier for mainstream users to onboard and trade by abstracting away the technical complexities present in Stage 1. New features include unlimited free trading, in-app compliant debit and credit card deposits, seamless email login and sign up, and more. The company will also use the funds to aggressively expand its team, actively hiring for engineering, product, and research roles.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Shayne and the rest of the team at Polymarket,” said Olaf Carlson-Wee of Polychain Capital. “We’ve been fascinated with information markets for some time, but many solutions in the space have been plagued with UX and liquidity problems. Shayne and his team understand this deeply and have incorporated these learnings into their inventive, user-centric product approach. They have executed extremely well, attaining best-in-category volumes with plenty of room to grow.”

Shayne Coplan, CEO and Founder of Polymarket, said that one of the biggest problems with social media and discourse on the internet today is the lack of accountability.

“Everyone has an opinion and isn’t afraid to share it, because at the moment there’s little downside to being wrong; this makes it really hard for regular people to discern what’s fact and what’s fiction,” said Coplan. “2020 has showcased just how bad the consequences of this can be. Polymarket is solving this by building a platform for markets that are purposefully designed for information elicitation. This lets people bet on their beliefs on a wide variety of contentious topics, and challenge others to do the same – generating invaluable, unbiased insights in the process. We’re excited to announce this funding from a group of amazing investors; it’s a testament to our team’s hard work and accomplishments.”