Original Title: "Forecast Market Two Major Leading Platforms CEO Jointly Appears, What Is the Background of This 'Newbie' Fund?"
Original Author: Nicky, Foresight News
Two largest competitors in the prediction market sector have reached a consensus on one matter.
On March 23, according to Forbes 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 investing in prediction market startups, with the first round of funding expected to be completed within the next month.
This fund has received joint investment from Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, making this rare collaboration between the CEOs of the two leading platforms a milestone event in the prediction market field.
Aside from the CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket, early supporters of the fund also include venture capital giant Marc Andreessen (participating through the Moneta Luna fund), Ribbit Capital founder Micky Malka, and former Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani.
Marc Andreessen is a co-founder of a16z, while Kyle Samani announced his resignation from his position at Multicoin Capital on February 5 of this year, indicating the significance and uniqueness of this fund due to their involvement. Elena Silenok, founder and managing partner of Moneta Luna, expressed confidence in Adhi's investment abilities. Kyle stated in a statement that the next few years will be a crucial time for building infrastructure around prediction markets.
The competitive relationship between Kalshi and Polymarket is not a secret. The former follows a compliance path under CFTC regulation, 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 employee comes out to raise funds, both CEOs choose to appear on the investor list together.
The logic behind this move is not complicated. The explosive growth of prediction markets has exceeded everyone's expectations: Kalshi's valuation has soared from $2 billion in June 2025 to $22 billion in March, while Polymarket also secured a $2 billion strategic investment from an intercontinental trading platform in October 2025, currently valued at $20 billion.
However, bottlenecks in industry growth are becoming increasingly evident, such as insufficient market depth for market makers, the lack of index products, and fragmented infrastructure. These are issues that no single platform can solve independently. Perhaps both CEOs believe that supporting a fund focused on ecological infrastructure is more valuable than continuing to consume each other on the existing track. Rather than fighting individually, it is better to work together to enlarge the pie.
The name 5c(c) Capital is derived from the Commodity Exchange Act section 5c(c), titled "New Contracts, New Rules." The fund's official website explains that this naming reflects its core philosophy: enduring innovation arises from the combination of new ideas and regulated oversight. Numerous media outlets have described this fund as the first dedicated VC fund in the history of the prediction market field.
According to fundraising documents, the fund plans to invest in approximately 20 companies over the next two years, covering market makers in prediction markets, index design tools, and other infrastructure projects around event contract ecosystems.
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 of significant bid-ask spreads and insufficient depth. Professional market makers can provide continuous quotes for various event contracts, reducing user trading costs and enhancing market efficiency.
Index design tools are key to upgrading prediction markets from "single-event gambling" to combinable financial products. Just as traditional financial markets have indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, prediction markets also need standardized index products to help users track the overall performance of a certain category of event contracts. On the infrastructure side, this encompasses a series of support systems from order book design, clearing mechanisms to regulatory frameworks.
These components together constitute the "upstream and downstream" of prediction markets, forming a complete ecosystem, rather than just a few trading platforms.
5c(c) Capital was co-founded by two former Kalshi employees. Adhi Rajaprabhakaran serves as the founding managing partner, having joined the Kalshi-affiliated market maker in 2022, becoming the second professional trader on the team, with over five years of experience in prediction market trading. He also operates a Substack column called "50¢ Dollars," focusing on regulatory and business analysis of prediction markets and hosts related podcasts. 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 the founding general partner, having previously held the position of 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 made over $100,000 trading in prediction markets to pay for his college tuition. Noah graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor's degree in finance, investment, and banking, and previously worked as an analyst in the commercial banking division of JPMorgan.
Fund advisor Ella Papanek also has a strong background in prediction markets. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in statistics, 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, having ranked among the top 100 women in the United States.
The rapid expansion of prediction markets has also attracted regulatory attention. As Kalshi and Polymarket expand their platforms into the sports event 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 the U.S. platforms of Kalshi and Polymarket) from offering contracts related to sporting events.
In mid-March, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a criminal lawsuit against Kalshi, alleging that while Kalshi may claim to be a "prediction market," it actually operates illegal gambling activities and accepts bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona laws.
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 data and capital levels.
According to Dune data, as of March 24, prior to this publication, the total number of independent users in prediction markets has exceeded 2.8 million, with open interest reaching $924 million, nominal trading volume hitting $152.4 billion, and a total of 672 million transactions. In the past week, the nominal trading volume exceeded $6.4 billion.
Kalshi is currently undergoing a new round of financing at a valuation of $22 billion, with Coatue Management leading the round, raising over $1 billion; its competitor Polymarket is negotiating financing with potential investors at a valuation of approximately $20 billion.
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