Robinhood Considers Takeovers to Strengthen Prediction Market Push

Trading platform Robinhood is exploring potential acquisitions as it aims to accelerate growth in the fast-evolving prediction markets sector, where interest in event-based trading continues to surge.

Good to Know

• Robinhood’s event contracts platform launched in March 2025 through partnerships with Kalshi and Interactive Brokers’ ForecastEx.
• The company may pursue acquisitions or joint ventures to grow faster.
• Analysts estimate annualized event contract revenue above $200 million.

“We as a firm are going to be looking to see if there is an acquisition that is available,” said JB Mackenzie, Vice President and General Manager of Futures and International at Robinhood, in an interview with Reuters. “I’m always looking to see if there is something of interest; if there is, we’ll pursue it and see if it is the right fit.”

Robinhood entered the prediction market space earlier this year through partnerships with Kalshi, valued at around $5 billion, and ForecastEx, a subsidiary of Interactive Brokers. The company hopes to capture a share of the growing market for event-based trading, which gained global attention during the 2024 U.S. presidential election and has since expanded to include predictions on central bank policy, sports, and entertainment events.

Event contracts function as binary outcome instruments — traders earn a payout if a specific outcome occurs or lose their stake if it does not. The model has attracted both retail and institutional interest, as it allows participants to express views on real-world events through small, regulated wagers.

Competition in the space is heating up. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) recently took a $2 billion stake in Polymarket, while other firms such as Underdog are building their own prediction trading products.

Piper Sandler analysts estimated that Robinhood’s event contract revenue reached an annualized rate above $200 million in September, with Robinhood users representing 25% to 35% of Kalshi’s daily trading volume.

“That being said, what we also know is we have really good engineers who build great products here,” Mackenzie added. “So what we’re going to do is try to balance the two,” referring to the company’s approach of weighing acquisitions against in-house product development.

New Strategic Path for Robinhood

Beyond potential acquisitions, Robinhood is also open to joint ventures and new partnerships to expand into adjacent financial markets. The move is part of a broader strategy to evolve from a retail trading app into a diversified financial services platform.

Shares in Robinhood have surged over 250% in 2025, lifting its market value above $120 billion and earning it a spot in the S&P 500 index. The expansion into prediction markets represents another step in the company’s transition from stock trading to data-driven event speculation — an area increasingly seen as a key frontier in retail finance.