PRED, a decentralized exchange for trading sports predictions, has raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by Accel, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Reverie, and individual investors Jeffrey Haas, Pet Berisha, and Kevin Kelly.
— PRED (@predofficial) February 17, 2026
What Is PRED
PRED, a peer-to-peer sports prediction exchange, has closed a $2.5 million seed funding round led by global venture capital firm Accel. The round also saw participation from BEF by Coinbase Ventures and crypto-native investment firm Reverie, alongside angel investors including Kevin Kelly II, Pet Berisha (founder of Sporting Crypto), and Tatsu.
The fresh capital will be deployed toward team expansion, liquidity development, and global user onboarding as PRED builds out what it describes as exchange-grade infrastructure purpose-built for sports prediction markets. The platform is currently live in private beta, with traders being onboarded through an invite-only program ahead of a broader public launch.
An Exchange Model for Sports Predictions
PRED is being built on Base, Coinbase’s Layer-2 blockchain network, and operates fundamentally differently from traditional sportsbooks. Rather than users trading against the house where the platform profits from user losses, PRED functions as a peer-to-peer exchange where buyers and sellers trade directly with one another. Prices on the platform are formed through open order books based on real supply and demand, mirroring the mechanics of financial exchanges like stock or commodity markets.
The platform offers trade execution in under 200 milliseconds with spreads under 2%, and all settlement occurs on-chain — meaning the rules are transparent, enforced by code, and no single entity can alter terms or freeze funds.
Why Sports Needs Dedicated Infrastructure
While prediction markets have demonstrated strong forecasting accuracy in areas like elections and macroeconomic events, sports represent a fundamentally different challenge. The continuous global demand, frequent events, and real-time momentum shifts within a single match require infrastructure built specifically for speed and liquidity at scale.
Despite the global sports betting economy being valued at an estimated $500 billion, the vast majority of volume remains concentrated within house-controlled sportsbooks that set prices and manage risk internally. Notably, these platforms routinely limit or outright ban their most profitable users – a practice PRED’s founders see as a core problem worth solving.
Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, noted that sports represent a continuous, global, and deeply liquid opportunity that requires purpose-built infrastructure rather than retrofitted general-purpose tools – which is the kind of focused execution Accel looks to back.
The Founding Team
PRED was co-founded by Amit Mahensaria (CEO), Arpit Nik, and Piyush Mahensaria. The founding team brings a mix of experience across finance, product design, and Web3.
Amit Mahensaria is a second-time entrepreneur who previously co-founded edtech company Impartus Innovations and served as CEO of upGrad Campus. He holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow and a B.Tech from IIT Delhi, with earlier career stints in investment banking at Yes Bank, SBI Capital Markets, and private equity at IDFC.
Arpit Nik brings deep Web3 product experience, having previously served as Head of Design at WazirX (one of India’s largest crypto exchanges) and as founder of the Graviton Web3 Accelerator and co-founder of GravityX Capital.
Piyush Mahensaria rounds out the founding team with a technical background spanning roles at PhonePe and Bright Money.
The PRED Standard: A Principles-First Approach
Alongside the funding announcement, PRED also published a set of operating commitments it calls “The PRED Standard.” Among the key principles: the platform commits to never marketing to minors, not designing for addictive behavior, never profiting as a counterparty to user trades, and maintaining full on-chain transparency for all transactions, wallets, and revenue.
The company has also stated it will not launch markets based purely on chance events requiring no skill, and all market settlement criteria will be specific, verifiable, and tied to defined data sources before trading opens.
What’s Next
PRED is starting with football markets and plans to onboard additional sports gradually. The company’s near-term focus is on deepening market liquidity through institutional partnerships and driving the trader growth needed to sustain a high-velocity exchange. Interested traders can request access to the invite-only mainnet beta via the project’s official website at pred.app.
