Sports prediction market Novig released its first nationwide brand ad, "Just Sports," on Sept. 9, with Sydney Sweeney appearing on screen and helping shape the campaign’s creative direction. The company said Sweeney is not just a paid spokesperson: she has also become an equity holder and a strategic partner. According to Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky, she first approached the company as an investor because of her own interest in prediction markets, and later took a larger role in the campaign. Novig is positioning itself differently from Kalshi and Polymarket, which have expanded prediction markets across categories including elections, Federal Reserve decisions, war, technology, entertainment, and sports. Novig said it is focused only on sports and that its product, market structure, and platform features are built for sports traders. The company added that it obtained designated contract market status from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in August, launched under a federal regulatory framework across the U.S., and keeps a minimum user age of 21. The company also tied its recent push to financing and partnerships. In February, Novig announced a $75 million Series B led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Multicoin Capital, Makers Fund, Edge Equity, Forerunner, NFX, and Perceptive Ventures, bringing total funding to more than $105 million and valuing the company at $500 million. Novig also said its 2025 trading volume grew more than 10x to an annualized $4 billion, and that it signed a multiyear deal with MLB’s New York Mets in July.

According to Fortune, River Markets announced Tuesday that it completed an $8.5 million seed round in July to build prediction market trading tools for institutions. Haun Ventures led the round, with Y Combinator and Coinbase Ventures participating. Other investors include Qube Research Technologies, along with angel investors from Google, Nvidia, Novig, JPMorgan and Citadel. The founder declined to disclose the company's valuation at the time of the round. The founder said that serving institutional demand for prediction markets at scale requires technology that allows institutions to trade across platforms and handle larger order sizes. Since launching in May, River Markets has provided institutions with software, data connections and risk management tools. Its algorithms aim to reduce the market impact of large trades. The company expects the platform's annualized trading volume to exceed several hundred million dollars by the end of the year.

Brazil’s Finance Ministry and Anatel blocked 27 prediction market platforms after CMN Resolution 5.298 classified sports, political and entertainment contracts as gambling. Only contracts tied to economic indicators remain allowed under regulation.