Novig Raises $75M in Series B Funding Round Led by Pantera Capital
Posted on: February 18, 2026, 11:31h.
Last updated on: February 18, 2026, 11:31h.
- Novig’s last capital raise was $18 million in August 2025
- Company says its clients are 10x more likely to win than on traditional sportsbooks
- Novig has raised $105 million in less than two years
Novig, the operator of a US peer-to-peer sports prediction market, announced today that it raised $75 million in a Series B funding round led by Pantera Capital, valuing the company at $500 million.
That’s more than quadruple the $18 million the company raised in a Series A round last August and brings its total raised to $105 million since its founding in late 2024. In addition to Pantera, Novig’s latest capital raise included participation from existing investors Forerunner, NFX, and Perceptive Ventures as well as Edge Equity, Makers Fund, and Multicoin Capital.
True to its name, Novig doesn’t charge a “vig” on sports wagers. Rather, the company positions itself as a more equitable alternative to standard sports betting an one with a “trader-first” philosophy.
By cutting out the middleman, we’ve built the most equitable sports trading platform in the industry — one where users are treated like traders, not customers to be exploited,” wrote co-founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky in a blog post. “As a result, Novig users are up to 10× more likely to win in the long-run than on traditional sportsbooks, and they will never be banned simply for winning.”
Founded by Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah, Novig is available in more than 40 states, including California and Texas, neither of which currently permits traditional sports wagering.
Pantera Bullish on Novig’s Future
Pantera previously highlighted the sports opportunity set for prediction market operators and it’s consistent in that messaging.
In an X post discussing the Novig financing, Mason Nystrom, junior partner at Pantera, acknowledges that sports event contracts contribute as much as 90% of the volume on some prediction markets and that success is driven in part by the “deeply flawed” old guard sports wagering industry. He adds that Novig’s way of doing things presents clients with superior odds.
“This exchange market structure results in better odds, where Novig users actually have 5% better odds compared to traditional platforms,” observes Nystrom. “Better odds translate to more opportunities for traders, which shows in the numbers – 23% of Novig users are profitable compared to 2% on traditional platforms. And, since Novig’s market is peer-to-peer, Novig users can even set their own odds for certain markets.”
Novig’s latest capital raised arrives six months after reports surfaced indicating the company was a rumored takeover target and that rivals Kalshi and Polymarket had kicked the tires on potentially making a move on the peer-to-peer sports wagering exchange.
Investors Love Prediction Markets
The pace of prediction market capital raising has recently been brisk and perhaps just as important is the fact that venture investors are allocating capital to some of the industry’s smaller firms.
In addition to today’s Novig news, Opinion Labs, the company behind the Opinion Trade prediction, raised $20 million from several investors in a pre-Series A round last week. Kairos, which is developing a unifying prediction markets terminal for professional traders, raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by a16z crypto.
With valuations on Kalshi and Polymarket hovering around $10 billion or more, venture investors may increase their interest in smaller prediction market entities because they can get more value and potentially favorable terms from smaller yes/no exchanges.
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