Prediction markets are really heating up. Since the recent U.S. presidential election, trading volume has surged, creating new opportunities. Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi are developing tradable contracts centered around political, economic, and cultural events, and this is not just a passing trend but becoming an actual market structure.

What's interesting is that it doesn't end here. Amid this growth, a new venture capital fund has been launched. It's called 5c(c) Capital, and the name is said to be derived from regulatory provisions governing prediction markets. The fund is directly supported by Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan and Kalshi co-founder Tarek Mansour.

The reason this venture capital fund is intriguing is that it doesn't just invest in exchanges. It focuses on infrastructure such as data tools, liquidity services, and compliance systems. Over the next two years, it plans to raise up to $35 million to support about 20 early-stage startups. This clearly shows an intention to build an ecosystem.

Looking at the documents submitted by the fund's founders to Bloomberg, they mention wanting to "capitalize on the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary effects of what we have built ourselves." In other words, it's a venture capital strategy aimed at leveraging the ripple effects created by the growth of prediction markets themselves.

Early investors are also quite prominent. Over 20 investors, including portfolio managers from Millennium Management, participated, along with several crypto-focused venture firms and founders of other prediction market platforms. This signals that prediction markets are moving beyond niche markets and gaining mainstream financial interest.

In recent months, major crypto-based companies have also entered this space, with trading volume and new users continuing to grow. The fact that venture capital is starting to move in this environment indicates that the prediction market ecosystem is expanding in earnest. I’m really curious about which startups will emerge from this fund in the future.