Private Markets: Polymarket planning U.S. return with sports focus

Fireworks, the AI inference cloud powering production AI applications for companies like Uber and Shopify, said it secured a $250M Series C at a $4B valuation.

This week’s private company news:

artificial intelligence company Poolside as part of a deal that would quadruple the valuation of the AI startup, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Kate Clark and Yazhou Sun. Poolside is in discussions to raise $2B at a $12B valuation and Nvidia’s investment in the round, which has not been previously reported, would start at $500M with the potential to reach $1B if the startup meets its fundraising targets, according to the report. Poolside’s new valuation would be a sharp jump from the $3B investors said it was worth in a funding round last year, the report noted.
• Prediction market Polymarket is preparing to return to the U.S. in the coming weeks with a focus on sports betting, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg’s Katherine Doherty, Kate Clark, and Lydia Beyoud report. Initial trading is likely by the end of November but won’t be broadly available to everyone, said some of the people. The timing of the launch could allow the company to capture more volume during peak U.S. football and basketball season, the authors note. Publicly traded online betting sports names include Flutter (FLUT) and DraftKings (DKNG). The latter has recently acquired prediction market company Railbird ahead of launching its DraftKings Predictions mobile app.

Some of the biggest capital raises by private companies this week include: 

• Fireworks – The AI inference cloud powering production AI applications for companies like Uber (UBER), Genspark, and Shopify (SHOP) said it secured a $250M Series C at a $4 billion valuation. The round, which includes primary and secondary funding, was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, and Evantic.
• Legora Nabs – The collaborative AI platform for lawyers said it completed a Series C round or $150M at a $1.8B valuation.  The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with significant investment from existing investors ICONIQ, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark, and Y Combinator. Publicly traded companies in the space include DocuSign (DOCU).
• Fruitist – The global superfruit brand closed $150M in equity financing, led by a vehicle managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, alongside other new and existing investors. led by a vehicle managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, alongside other new and existing investors. Publicly traded companies in the space include Fresh Del Monte Produce (FDP).
• Hercle Banks – The institutional crypto infrastructure platform announced $60M in new capital. The round includes a $10M equity investment led by F-Prime, with participation from Fulgur Ventures and Exponential Science. Publicly traded companies in the space include ACI Worldwide (ACIW) and Bakkt (BKKT).
• Recess Scoops – The company in the relaxation beverage space announced the closing of its Series B funding round of $30M. The round was led by CAVU Consumer Partners, with participation from Rocana, Midnight Ventures, Torch Capital, Doehler Ventures, KAS Venture Partners, Vanquish, and Craig Kallman. Publicly traded companies in the space include Unilever (UL).

Unicorns to watch this week:

• OpenAI – Operating in the AI Research & Infrastructure sector, OpenAI has become one of the most valuable private companies globally. Publicly traded competitors include Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), and Amazon (AMZN).
• Kalshi – The prediction-market startup has recently raised $185M in a funding round led by Paradigm, valuing the company at about $2B.
• Navi Technologies – The fintech-lender/insurer has recently entered India’s unicorn rankings at a $1.7B valuation. Publicly traded companies in the space include SoFi (SOFI), Upstart (UPST), and Affirm (AFRM).
• Jumbotail – The B2B e-commerce for food and grocery has recently raised $120M in a Series D round. Publicly traded companies in the space include United Natural Foods (UNFI), Sysco (SYY), and US Foods (USFD).
• Colossal Biosciences – The biotech “de-extinction” startup secured $200M in January 2025, reaching $10B valuation. Publicly traded companies in the space include Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA) and Twist Bioscience (TWST).

IPOs to watch: 

• Evommune (EVMN) – The clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative therapies that target key drivers of chronic inflammatory diseases has filed for an initial public offering and applied to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange.
• Central Bancompany (CBC) – The company announced its filing of a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its Class A common stock. In connection with the proposed initial public offering, the Board of Directors of Central Bancompany approved a 50-for-1 stock split in the form of a stock dividend, whereby each shareholder of record as of the October 20 record date will receive 49 shares of Class A common stock for each share owned as of the record date.
• Ethos (LIFE) – The life insurance technology company announced that it filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.
• Lendbuzz (LBZZ) – The company is offering an undetermined number of shares of its common stock and the selling stockholders identified in this prospectus are offering additional shares of common stock, according to an initial public offering prospectus filed with the SEC. 
  Sea Forrest International (SFTI) – The company has filed for an initial public offering of 3.75M Class A shares and anticipates that the initial public offering price of the Class A shares will be between $4.00 and $4.50 per share.

“Private Markets” is The Fly’s recurring series of stories on the latest moves in the private sector, largest unicorn companies and initial public offerings to watch. Fly subscribers, add $PRIVATE to your portfolio for alerts on breaking news in the startup and venture capital space.