Polymarket has appointed Warren Jenson as its first chief financial officer, adding a veteran finance executive to its leadership team as the company pushes to expand its US operations and close the market-share gap with rival Kalshi.
Jenson, 69, brings more than three decades of experience to the role. He previously served as finance chief at Amazon, Electronic Arts, Delta Air Lines and NBC during the 1990s and early 2000s, and he helped shape Amazon during its early days.
He most recently held the CFO post at Nielsen, which he left in January 2025. Before that, he spent more than four years as president and CFO of data platform LiveRamp. Jenson also sits on the boards of cloud storage provider Dropbox and crypto firm Ripple.
Jenson will report to CEO Shayne Coplan and is tasked with supporting the company’s long-term planning as it looks to scale, according to Polymarket.
“His experience will be critical to everything we build from here,” Coplan said.
Building out a leadership bench
Jenson is Polymarket’s first company-wide finance chief, joining an organization that has been adding senior executives throughout the year. This summer, the company brought in Travis VanderZanden, a former Uber executive who also founded a scooter-sharing business, as chief growth officer.
“We’re assembling the team to match the opportunity in front of us,” Coplan said.
Polymarket was founded in 2020 by Coplan, 28, who has served as CEO since the company’s launch and recently marked its sixth year in operation.
A widening gap with Kalshi
The hire lands as Polymarket works to regain ground lost to Kalshi in the prediction markets sector, which allows users to trade on the outcomes of various events and has grown rapidly in popularity in recent years.
Combined trading volume at Kalshi and Polymarket, the two largest operators in the space, reached $48.4 billion in August, according to data from Piper Sandler. Of that total, Kalshi accounted for $40 billion, nearly five times Polymarket’s volume for the month and enough to displace Polymarket as the previous volume leader.
Polymarket is also contending with newer entrants such as Robinhood and DraftKings, which have launched competing products more recently.
Regulatory standing and financial backing
Polymarket is in the process of expanding its US platform after gaining regulatory oversight from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The company has surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue and is valued at approximately $21 billion following a recent $1 billion funding round.
1789 Capital, the venture capital and growth equity firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, is investing about $300 million in Polymarket as part of that round. 1789 Capital ranks among Polymarket’s largest backers alongside Intercontinental Exchange, which disclosed a $1.6 billion stake in the company earlier this year.
Polymarket also maintains a data partnership with Dow Jones, and has partnered with NBA all-time leading scorer LeBron James to promote its platform.
The company has faced scrutiny while establishing itself in the US market. Senators have called for a federal investigation into Polymarket’s marketing practices, including allegations of social-media promotion of fake bets.