Prediction markets have moved from a niche curiosity to a legitimate asset class almost overnight, with annualized revenue already above $3B and analysts projecting a path toward $10B by 2030. Yet the financial infrastructure supporting this growth still runs on infrastructure built for a different era. The gap shows up in the most basic friction points: traders pre-funding accounts at each individual exchange, settlements that pause on nights and weekends, and payment processors charging fees calibrated for consumer credit cards rather than high-frequency capital flows. As the U.S.-based exchange landscape fragments with five to seven fully live CFTC-regulated prediction market exchanges expected by year-end and more than 20 designated contract market applications in the pipeline, the capital fluidity compounds with every new platform that comes online. EDGE Markets builds the infrastructure layer underneath all of it, with three purpose-built products: EDGE Boost, a dedicated banking account for high-volume gaming and trading participants that has processed over $2B in transactions since launching in March 2025; EDGE Connect, a private payment rail for operators that back testing shows reduces payment processing costs by more than 70%; and the forthcoming EDGE Pro, the first high-throughput deposit account for institutional market makers that will enable post-execution settlement across multiple liquidity pools and eliminate the need to pre-fund accounts at every exchange.
AlleyWatch sat down with Seni Thomas, Founder and CEO of EDGE Markets, to learn more about the business, its future plans, recent funding round that brings the company’s total funding to $50.3M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
EDGE Markets recently closed a $29.2 million Series A funding round led by CoinFund, with participation from Indicator Ventures, Mantis VC, StepStone Group, and Bullpen Capital.
Tell us about the product or service that EDGE Markets offers.
EDGE Markets builds financial infrastructure for gaming, prediction markets, and digital assets that is revolutionizing payment fragmentation. Our three products are EDGE Boost, EDGE Connect and EDGE Pro. EDGE Boost is a purpose-built banking account for high-volume traders and gaming participants. EDGE Connect is a purpose-built payment rail for gaming and prediction market operators, which enables users to push up to $10 million a day in real time directly from their bank into a prediction market account. EDGE Pro is the institutional product, built specifically to solve the capital constraint and settlement problem for market makers trading across multiple exchanges.
What inspired the start of EDGE Markets?
cWe saw a massive disconnect between the growth of gaming, prediction markets, and digital assets, and the outdated financial infrastructure supporting them. These industries are growing rapidly, but traders doing the actual volume, especially on the institutional side, keep running into the same wall. There are 24-hour markets now, but participants are still waiting on wire transfers. EDGE Markets was founded because the gap between what this industry needs and what currently exists is enormous, and it only gets wider as the exchange landscape becomes more fragmented.
How is EDGE Markets different?
Most of the conversation in this space has been about exchanges and regulation. Very little attention has been paid to what traders actually need to scale their operations. EDGE Markets is coming at this from that angle, not as another exchange, not as a data terminal, but as the infrastructure layer solving capital constraints and payment friction. EDGE Boost is also the first and only limited-use checking account ever launched, purpose-built so funds can only move to regulated gaming and CFTC-regulated accounts. That specificity creates a very clean compliance profile that a traditional checking account simply cannot offer.
What market does EDGE Markets target and how big is it?
Our focus is on the traders, operators, and market makers moving real money through gaming, prediction markets, and digital assets. Right now, prediction markets are still largely a single-marketplace world, with Kalshi doing the majority of volume. By the end of this year, there will probably be five to seven fully live exchanges, with more than 20 DCM applications in the pipeline. That fragmentation is going to make the capital problem significantly worse. Each new exchange is another pool requiring pre-funded accounts. Without infrastructure to solve that, institutional players won’t seriously enter this space. That’s the market EDGE is building for.
What’s your business model?
EDGE Boost and EDGE Connect are transaction-based businesses generating revenue on money movement and payment volume. EDGE Pro will generate commission revenue tied to institutional trading activity once the introducing broker and FCM licenses are in place. The FCM in particular is what allows EDGE to custody and clear funds on behalf of institutional clients, which is what enables post-execution settlement across multiple exchanges. That’s where we will scale.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
EDGE Markets is building infrastructure, not a discretionary product. The capital constraint problem doesn’t go away in a downturn. The business is also not dependent on any single exchange or market. As more exchanges come online and the multi-pool landscape develops, the need for this infrastructure actually increases regardless of the broader environment.
What was the funding process like?
The conversations that resonated most were with investors who understood the infrastructure angle. There has been significant investment in exchanges and data terminals, but those products don’t solve the underlying capital constraint. Once investors understood that EDGE is specifically focused on the money movement and settlement layer, and that the company already has the banking infrastructure and regulatory licenses most fintechs can’t replicate, the thesis became clear.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
One of the biggest challenges was helping investors understand that we are not simply another fintech company. EDGE Markets sits at the intersection of financial services, gaming, prediction markets, and digital assets. While these sectors are growing rapidly, they are still relatively new categories for many investors. Demonstrating the scale of the opportunity and the importance of specialized infrastructure required significant education and market context.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
EDGE Boost was the proof point. Over $2B in volume demonstrated real demand for a purpose-built product in this space. Beyond that, investors recognized that EDGE has a combination of banking access, regulatory licenses, and infrastructure that most startups can’t replicate. This was built from the ground up specifically for this market, and that head start is meaningful.
EDGE Boost was the proof point. Over $2B in volume demonstrated real demand for a purpose-built product in this space. Beyond that, investors recognized that EDGE has a combination of banking access, regulatory licenses, and infrastructure that most startups can’t replicate. This was built from the ground up specifically for this market, and that head start is meaningful.What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Our primary focus is launching and scaling EDGE Connect and EDGE Pro. For Connect, that means onboarding operators and expanding adoption of our private payment rail. We are looking to get EDGE Connect live across the major exchanges before the next NFL season. For EDGE Pro, we are advancing our regulatory registrations, onboarding early institutional customers, and preparing for commercial launch.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Find the problem that isn’t getting enough attention and go solve it. There has been a lot of focus on exchanges and regulation in this space, but the actual traders, the people doing the majority of the volume, have not had much of a voice. Identify something real that is broken, build traction around fixing it, and the capital follows.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
The goal is for EDGE to be the infrastructure that everyone builds on top of. Whether it’s a consumer moving money into a regulated platform, an operator who needs a payment rail, or an institutional trader managing capital across multiple exchanges, EDGE can be the layer underneath all of it. The more fragmented the exchange landscape becomes, the more critical EDGE’s unique infrastructure becomes.
What’s your favorite spring destination in and around the city?
I love spending time on Governors Island and enjoying the views.
