Coinbase Ventures and CMCC Back Prediction-Market Market Maker Raven at $90M Valuation

Coinbase Ventures and CMCC Back Prediction-Market Market Maker Raven at $90M Valuation

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Overview: A High-Profile Bet on Prediction-Market Liquidity

Raven, a privately held company that provides liquidity to prediction markets, has closed a financing round led by Coinbase Ventures and CMCC Global. The round values Raven at $90 million pre-money — a major jump from its previous valuation and a fresh signal that institutional investors are eager to gain exposure to the fast-growing prediction-market industry.

Founded in 2023, Raven only began making markets in prediction markets in the second quarter of 2025. In that short time, it has reportedly traded thousands of event contracts. The company is not yet a household name for retail traders, but the backing from Coinbase’s venture arm and CMCC Global suggests that sophisticated investors see significant potential in the firm.

What Raven Does

Raven is not a prediction-market platform itself. Instead, it acts as a liquidity provider — sometimes called a market maker — for platforms that host event contracts. These are financial instruments tied to the outcome of future events, such as elections, sports games, economic data releases, or geopolitical developments.

According to the company’s website, Raven is:

“a next generation algorithmic high-frequency trading firm that is focused on long-lasting partnerships and building the future of digital finance.”

Raven’s activity is broader than prediction markets alone. The firm also provides market making for traditional financial assets and supplies liquidity for digital assets and token projects across both centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Why Market Makers Matter

Prediction markets only work well when traders can buy and sell quickly at fair prices. That is where market makers like Raven come in. They continuously stand ready to quote both buy and sell prices for event contracts, helping to ensure that there is always a counterparty for traders who want to enter or exit a position.

As Gemini explains, the role of market makers is essential:

“Without market makers, prediction markets would be illiquid, slow, and inaccurate. They enable instant trading so participants don’t have to wait to find a counterparty. They tighten spreads over time as competition among market makers increases. And they keep contract prices honest, ensuring the price of a ‘Yes’ share genuinely reflects the market’s collective estimate of the probability.”

In other words, market makers don’t just add convenience. They also improve the informational quality of prediction markets by keeping prices closely aligned with real-world probabilities.

Raven’s Valuation Jump: From Seed to $90M

Raven’s latest financing marks a major milestone for the young company. Here’s a quick timeline:

The dollar amounts invested by Coinbase Ventures and CMCC Global were not disclosed. However, the structure of the deal is notable for another reason: Charlie Morris, co-founder of CMCC Global, is joining Raven’s board of directors. That gives CMCC a direct governance role as Raven continues to scale.

Coinbase Ventures’ Expanding Prediction-Market Portfolio

Coinbase Ventures is the venture investing arm of Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN), the cryptocurrency exchange giant. Over the years, Coinbase Ventures has built a broad portfolio of blockchain and cryptocurrency-related investments. More recently, it has been steadily increasing its footprint in prediction markets.

The Raven investment is far from Coinbase Ventures’ first move in the space. The firm already has exposure to several other prediction-market-related companies:

Billy Bets

Billy Bets is an autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agent that trades sports event contracts on platforms such as Polymarket. This investment gives Coinbase Ventures access to the growing intersection of AI and prediction markets.

Earlybird

Earlybird is a prediction market that allows retail investors to “trade on the future outcomes” of privately held companies. This is a unique angle because most prediction markets focus on public events, not private-company outcomes.

Limitless

Limitless is described as one of the largest prediction markets that does not operate in the United States. By backing Limitless, Coinbase Ventures gains exposure to international prediction-market activity without the regulatory complications that can come with U.S.-facing platforms.

Together, these investments show a clear theme: Coinbase is positioning itself across the prediction-market value chain, from platforms and AI agents to the liquidity providers that keep everything running smoothly.

What the Investment Signals About the Prediction-Market Industry

Raven’s rising valuation is not happening in a vacuum. Prediction markets have attracted increasing attention from both retail and institutional traders in recent years. As these markets grow, so does the need for professional liquidity providers who can handle large trading volumes and keep spreads tight.

Raven is another example of soaring prediction-market valuations. The fact that a company with just a few years of operating history can triple its valuation in less than a year suggests that institutional investors see a durable long-term opportunity in this space.

There are also important strategic considerations. By backing Raven, Coinbase Ventures and CMCC Global are effectively investing in the infrastructure that makes prediction markets usable. Even if individual prediction platforms rise or fall, the market makers who provide liquidity are likely to remain essential.

That said, the industry still faces regulatory uncertainty. Some prediction-market operators have faced scrutiny from U.S. regulators, and platforms like Limitless have chosen to avoid operating in the U.S. altogether. For Raven, the ability to navigate this complex environment while maintaining deep liquidity will be a key test of its long-term viability.

Conclusion

Raven’s $90 million pre-money valuation, backed by Coinbase Ventures and CMCC Global, is a strong signal of institutional confidence in prediction-market infrastructure. The company has moved quickly since its founding in 2023, and with Charlie Morris joining the board, it now has additional governance experience to support its next stage of growth.

For the prediction-market ecosystem, the investment is ultimately a bet on the importance of liquidity. Market makers like Raven are the quiet engine behind instant trading, tight spreads, and honest price discovery. As prediction markets continue to expand into sports, politics, finance, and beyond, that engine will only become more valuable.