Novig Reaches $2 Billion Valuation After Quadrupling Value on NFL Volume and Sweeney Campaign

Novig has raised new funding at a $2 billion valuation. The sports-focused prediction market operator quadrupled its value from the $500 million mark set in February following a $75 million round led by Pantera Capital.

The company, founded in 2021 by Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah, began as a peer-to-peer sports exchange before shifting to a federally regulated model. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Novig as a designated contract market in June. This cleared the path for platform launch in August. Novig now operates in 47 states, excluding Arizona, Michigan and Nevada.

Sports-Only Model Generates Early Volume

Novig has restricted its contracts to sports events, unlike competitors that include financial, political and cultural markets. Since the NFL season opened on September 9, the platform produced $1.14 billion in notional trading volume, per Aldrin Research. It ranked sixth among 11 operators tracked during the first three weeks of NFL activity.

Company data show more than 250,000 traders have driven over $6.5 billion in total volume. Novig followed an NFL request to bar easily manipulable, officiating-related and knowable markets. It also set the first U.S. minimum user age at 21. “Trust is the foundation of every market, and it’s earned through clear rules and accountability,” Fortinsky recently said, as The Wall Street Journal reports. “Responsible trading shouldn’t rest solely with the customer – it should always begin with the exchange itself. By codifying responsible trading standards directly into our rulebook, we’re holding ourselves to the same high standard we expect of our participants and establishing a new benchmark for how federally regulated prediction markets should operate.”

Celebrity Campaign Lifts Profile

Actress Sydney Sweeney joined as an equity investor and fronted a campaign launched in early September. She received an equity stake rather than cash compensation. One spot includes her line: “Think you know sports? Prove it. No betting on wars, or deaths, and no politics. Just you, your takes and sports.” Another states: “You can’t trade this. I just look good here.”

The effort coincided with Novig’s August marketing partnership with the New York Mets, the first such deal between a trading exchange and an MLB team. The $2 billion valuation still trails Kalshi at around $40 billion and Polymarket at roughly $21 billion. No IPO plans have been announced.

Valuation Path Forward

The fourfold increase in less than eight months reflects investor response to regulated volume growth and differentiated standards. Operators in this segment must track how compliance choices and sports-only focus affect capital formation relative to broader platforms. Regulators will observe whether these models sustain channelisation without expanding into restricted event categories.

Reporting: World Casino News

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