Polymarket secured $2 billion in new funding this year, and Kalsi raised $1.3 billion, setting the pace for a year in which fintech companies finally returned to the venture capital scene in earnest.
The companies, which allow users to bet on real-world events, were the biggest winners in the 2025 Startup Funding Sweep, securing the largest round in the US and two of the top five globally.
The data comes from Pitchbook, which tracks the total $55.94 billion raised by fintech companies around the world this year, a 25% increase from last year’s $44.75 billion. But the 2025 total is still far from the $123.99 billion that flew around in 2021. At the time, interest rates were essentially zero, and investors were chasing everything on websites and pitch materials.
Polymarket and Kalshi outperform Plaid, Stripe and others
Polymarket raised $2 billion in funding at a $9 billion valuation in October, and plans to raise again at a valuation of $12 billion to $15 billion, Bloomberg reported in October. That would put it ahead of some large companies like Plaid and Stripe, which did not raise anything close to this size in 2025.
Meanwhile, Kalsi raised $300 million in October and secured another $1 billion by December. Its valuation is currently $11 billion. These rounds not only beat out crypto competitors; They beat everyone. The scale alone is extraordinary, especially after a drought that has stopped such large deals from happening.
Oak HC/FT general partner Matt Streisfeld said this type of activity is unusual. “We haven’t seen this type of very large primary funding in a while,” he said. He has observed capital being concentrated in smaller corporate groups and would not be surprised to see it piling up in places like Polymarket and Karshi.
“We’re going to see another doubling of the number of companies recognized as market winners in each category,” Matt said. “What we most need is to add 10 new players to the actual five players already on the market.”
The overall number of transactions in 2025 decreased to 3,712, a 19% decrease from 2024. The money has simply been concentrated in fewer hands. Companies that already had a foothold grew larger, while new entrants had a hard time breaking in.
President Trump’s lighter rules will help fintechs raise money and go public
The regulatory environment has also changed under President Donald Trump, who returned to office in 2025. In particular, the loosening of banking-related regulations has made it easier for fintech to grow. That’s attracting more investors.
Matt said the funding aims to “grow commercial adoption,” which will also help crypto companies.
This year, Coinbase partnered with both Citigroup and PNC to demonstrate how crypto platforms are finally being integrated into traditional banking systems in real and significant ways.
Some have criticized the rules for changing too quickly, but this is in stark contrast to the chaos of 2021. That year was all about fancy growth projections and marketing. There’s more scrutiny now, and investors want real numbers. “A lot of the boom in ’21 was based on projected growth,” Matt said. “That wasn’t a bad idea; it was just that the company was being valued at an unsustainable compound growth rate.”
Meanwhile, Ramp Inc. has raised about $1 billion through three funding rounds of more than $200 million each, and is now valued at $32 billion, up from $13 billion at the beginning of the year.
Relaxed supervision also spurred an increase in IPOs. This year alone, Circle, Gemini, Chime, Klarna and Wealthfront all went public, offering backers a way to finally get their hands on some cash. This is not the end. More fintech listings are expected in 2026.
