On February 18, 2026, Novig, the high-growth sports trading platform, announced the successful close of its 75-million-dollar Series B funding round. The investment was led by the California-based venture capital giant Pantera Capital, with significant participation from Multicoin Capital, Makers Fund, and Edge Equity, as well as several existing backers including Forerunner and NFX. This latest capital injection brings Novig’s total funding to over 105 million dollars and establishes a post-money valuation of approximately 500 million dollars. Founded in 2021 by Harvard graduates Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah, Novig has built its reputation on a peer-to-peer (P2P) trading model that directly challenges the “exploitative” nature of traditional sportsbooks. By allowing users to trade sports outcomes against one another rather than against a house with a significant margin, Novig claims to offer odds that are 10 times more favorable for the average bettor. The new funds are earmarked for rapid headcount expansion and a massive push toward regulatory compliance in the United States.
Transitioning from a Sweepstakes Model to a CFTC-Regulated Prediction Market
A major theme of Novig’s Series B announcement is the company’s planned transition toward a fully regulated prediction market framework. Historically, Novig has operated under a sweepstakes-based model to manage its U.S. presence, but CEO Jacob Fortinsky revealed that the firm has officially applied to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for a Designated Contract Market (DCM) license. If approved, this license would allow Novig to phase out its sweepstakes offering and compete directly with established players like Kalshi and Polymarket. Fortinsky argued that while competitors have successfully financialized political and economic events, there is a “massive, unproven demand” for the professionalization of sports-related prediction markets. By applying a sophisticated P2P exchange architecture to the sports ecosystem, Novig intends to eliminate the “middleman” fees that have traditionally characterized the industry, offering a fee-free experience for retail users while generating revenue from institutional liquidity providers who pay for access to the platform’s high-volume order books.
Scaling Liquidity and the 2026 Goal of Financializing Global Sports
With annualized trading volumes already exceeding 4 billion dollars in 2025—a tenfold increase over the previous year—Novig is positioning itself at the center of the “financialization of everything” trend. The company plans to use the 75 million dollars in fresh capital to deepen its liquidity pools, ensuring that large-scale institutional traders can enter and exit positions without significant slippage. This focus on “institutional-grade” depth is seen as a key differentiator as Novig prepares for the next phase of its growth. Beyond the technical infrastructure, the firm is also aggressively hiring across its engineering and legal departments to prepare for the rigorous oversight of the CFTC. As the 2026 sports season begins, Novig is betting that its “trader-first” philosophy will attract a new class of sophisticated sports fans who view their wagers as tradable assets rather than one-off gambles. For the broader prediction market sector, Novig’s successful Series B serves as a definitive signal that the intersection of sports betting and decentralized exchange technology is becoming a primary target for top-tier institutional capital.
