JPMorgan Chase

Kalshi Prediction Markets Surge During World Cup

Manager Magazin’s Finance Forward newsletter spotlights a World Cup‑driven boom for prediction‑market platforms, led by Kalshi. Kalshi — described as the market leader — saw stakes climb to $2.9 billion in the first two weeks of the tournament, outpacing March Madness, while its valuation reportedly rose to $22 billion over the past year. CEO Tarek Mansour (30) gave an interview about a global expansion push. The piece frames an industry debate over whether large prediction markets are emerging as financial exchanges or resemble large‑scale online gambling, and notes rival Polymarket and major investors (Sequoia, Charles Schwab, KKR). The newsletter also includes unrelated fintech and payments briefings (Meta’s investment in Cred / leadership move, Wero expansion, ECB digital euro progress) and consumer payments data from the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Prometheus Raises $12B to Build Physical AI Engineer

Prometheus, a physical-AI startup co-founded by Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj, announced a $12 billion funding round that values the company at $41 billion. The raise was led by Bezos and included institutional investors such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock. Prometheus previously raised $6.2 billion at launch late last year. The company says it is building an "artificial general engineer" — software to automate design and manufacturing of complex physical systems — and will direct a large portion of the new capital toward significant compute needs. Prometheus employs about 150 people across San Francisco, London and Zurich. Bezos said productivity gains from the technology could create what he terms "labor scarcity," a view that contrasts with other industry predictions about AI-driven job losses.

SpaceX Raises $75B in Record IPO

SpaceX’s initial public offering — trading under the ticker SPCX — raised $75 billion by selling 555.6 million shares at $135 each, creating the largest IPO on record and valuing the company at about $1.77 trillion. The filing shows SpaceX generated $4.69 billion in revenue in Q1 (up 15% year-over-year) and $18.67 billion for the prior year, while recording a $4.28 billion quarterly net loss and a cumulative deficit of roughly $41.3 billion since 2002. Starlink remains the main revenue and only profitable unit; xAI merged into SpaceX earlier this year. Goldman Sachs led the offering with Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan as joint banks. The deal has reignited debate over how to value firms that combine commercial growth with national-security roles — a class CNBC calls “strategic tech” — and could invite heightened regulatory scrutiny given SpaceX’s government contracts and market position.