Asset Class: Novig on the Rise

July 1, 2026

Novig, a sports-focused prediction-market platform launched in 2021, isn’t as well known as Kalshi and Polymarket, the two companies dominating the space. But 28-year-old founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky isn’t concerned. Fortinsky spoke with Front Office Sports about how his company has grown, and why he thinks Novig benefits from some of the larger prediction markets helping blow up the category.

—Ben Horney

First Up

With Comcast’s planned spin-off of NBCUniversal, the NBC Sports parent will make retaining NFL rights even more of a priority. Read the story.
Josh Childress, a part-owner of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns, says women’s sports are opening new marketing opportunities that men’s teams can’t offer. Read the story.
A War of the Roses–type power struggle has erupted within the Professional Tennis Players Association. Read the story.
A lawsuit claims Polymarket paid a variety of celebrities to promote the platform without disclosing that their posts were advertisements. Read the story.

Novig Founder Isn’t Worried About Kalshi and Polymarket’s Head Start

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

Novig isn’t as well known as Kalshi and Polymarket, but 28-year-old founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky isn’t concerned. His sports-focused prediction-market platform has raised more than $100 million since its 2021 formation and recently received federal approval enabling Novig to expand into all 50 states.

In addition, Novig just hired Kalshi’s former chief regulatory officer, who also previously worked at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal regulator that oversees prediction markets.

In a recent conversation with Front Office Sports, Fortinsky said he believes prediction markets are a better product for consumers than traditional sportsbooks, touting the fact that Novig is perhaps the only prediction-market platform whose users must be at least 21, and framing the massive marketing pushes from Kalshi and Polymarket over the last year as a net positive for the industry at large.

Front Office Sports: The CFTC recently approved Novig as a designated contract market, which allows the company to operate as a federally regulated prediction market nationwide. What was that process like?

Jacob Fortinsky: The process took us about five months, and we are proud to be the fastest-approved DCM in the history of the U.S. It was more rigorous than I expected, honestly. It’s very clear they are much more proficient regulators than other state regulators I dealt with previously. They have an incredibly high bar for designation. The current CFTC has acted with a greater sense of urgency and care when it comes to prioritizing innovation and the future of markets, and they have the utmost concern of ensuring the integrity and safety of markets for all participants.

FOS: A few days after getting that designation, you hired Elie Mishory as chief regulatory and legal affairs officer. He’s worked at the CFTC and Kalshi, and also did work for the federal government with DOGE. What does he bring to the table?

JF: I had heard about the lore and myth of Elie for years. He was this elusive, brilliant, and creative person at the helm of Kalshi, which was pioneering the regulated prediction-market landscape in the U.S. He oversaw legal and regulatory operations there when they successfully sued the CFTC to allow election event contracts.

As we were thinking about trying to assemble the dream executive team, there was no person we would have preferred to bring on than Elie. He’s really a visionary in understanding where this will end up, and how we can make sure we’re well positioned to capitalize on that.

FOS: You’ve raised a lot of money, including from venture capital firms like Forerunner Ventures as well as former star NFL quarterback Joe Montana. But Kalshi and Polymarket are still the two most well-known names in prediction markets. And even after them, most people will mention Robinhood, Crypto.com, and others next. Novig seems to fly under the radar a bit. What is your reaction to that?

JF: I have respect for everyone who’s building in this space. I think we benefit from some of the larger prediction markets helping blow up this category and educating the public. We have a significant second-mover advantage. I think people overstate the importance of the first-mover advantage. Look at Uber and Lyft, or Ramp and Brex, or Anthropic and OpenAI. For a year, the public didn’t even know what Anthropic was.

Our view is that we are currently investing all of our resources into the team and technology. Brand awareness matters, of course, but people who are in the know—who are sports traders—think very highly of us. They love us, and tell their friends about us.

I agree we have to do a better job of educating the public more broadly about Novig. We plan to be much more aggressive on that front over the next few months to try and close the gap from a brand awareness perspective. But of course the public knows about brands like Kalshi and Polymarket, or Robinhood, FanDuel, and DraftKings. Those companies have spent many years and many millions of dollars getting their brands out there. That’s the nature of being a start-up. It’s an uphill battle.

But we also have the advantage of being able to focus strictly on prediction markets. DraftKings has to keep focusing on its traditional gaming business. Robinhood has to focus on their 401(k) and banking businesses. I’m very optimistic that a year from now we will very much be one of the first companies people think of when they hear about prediction markets.

FOS: Kalshi and Polymarket take a lot of heat, including from players in traditional gaming. It has become easy to view them as the bad guys. What do you make of all that?

JF: I’m not saying that’s my view, but I do think increasingly it’s the view of the public, Kalshi and Polymarket as the bad guys. They have prioritized brand awareness over brand affinity, but the truth is the public doesn’t really know what they stand for, if they stand for anything. I think people are very good at sniffing out the air of bullshit and people crave authenticity.

We have built this company because the status quo isn’t working. People in sports betting are being underserved, exploited, and lied to, and they deserve something better. That’s what motivated the inception of our company. We are sports traders building for sports traders.

FOS: What did you think of the CFTC’s recently proposed rules that would govern the prediction-market industry?

JF: I think we’re going to put out an official statement, so we haven’t finished formulating our internal perspective. At a high level, it was very encouraging. I will say that we think guardrails are very important. We are going to be the first, and only, prediction-market platform that I know of that’ll have a 21-plus age gate. That’s because we care about consumers, and we hear the concerns people have raised about the younger demographic being particularly susceptible to certain types of riskier trading activity. My biggest priority as CEO of this company is earning the trust of the public, regulators, legislators, and sports traders.

FOS: Novig had a short-term partnership with LIV Golf during the Masters Tournament. Got anything else in the pipeline?

JF: We’re in talks with everyone. The truth is, we’re trying to spend wisely. Sometimes, with competitors, it feels like they have more money than they know what to do with. We’ve heard of certain brand marketing opportunities where the initial ask is, let’s say, $6 million or $8 million per year, and within a week it gets bid up to $15 million or $20 million. We are trying to build a company and brand that outlives all of us. It’s a silly thing to say, but it really is the case that I want Novig and MLB, for example, to be working together after I am no longer alive. That’s our mindset. We do have a couple exciting things on the roadmap that we can’t share at this moment, but you’ll certainly hear more about that when the time comes.

DEAL FLOW

Salad Days for Jalen Brunson

Jun 10, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the second quarter of game four of the 2026 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden.

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

NBA Finals champ and MVP Jalen Brunson is joining New York–based salad chain Just Salad as a partner and equity owner, the company announced Tuesday. The Knicks point guard will “be embedded in the business,” including working with Just Salad’s leadership and culinary teams and visiting restaurants, the press release said. The fast-casual chain is concentrated in the Northeast and has around 120 locations.
CVC Capital’s dedicated sports unit is investing in Chess.com, which says it’s the “largest chess community in the world,” with more than 10 million people using the online platform daily. The deal from Global Sport Group, which the private-equity giant formed last year, marks its second somewhat unconventional investment after January’s purchase of a controlling stake in competitive horse sports organization Equine Network.
Lukas Walton and Samantha Walton of the family behind Walmart are taking a minority stake in the Chicago Bulls and the United Center, their home arena. The duo is buying existing stakes from undisclosed limited partners. The Reinsdorf family, which bought the Bulls for $9.2 million in 1985—the year after the team drafted Michael Jordan—will remain majority owners (the Bulls are now valued at $6 billion, according to Forbes). Lukas’s uncle is Rob Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Rob Walton bought the Denver Broncos in 2022.
The Premier Lacrosse League has raised $100 million from a group led by Brooklyn Nets owner Joseph Tsai and private credit firm Ares Management, in what the organization is calling the “largest capital raise in the history of professional lacrosse.” As part of the Series E financing, ESPN is increasing its existing minority stake in PLL. Other participating investors include Wrexham co-chairman Rob Mac (of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame) and actor Glen Powell, who is most well known for his role in the 2022 action film Top Gun: Maverick.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma City Thunder wing Jalen Williams, and Olympic gold–medal-winning hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone are investing in an expansion soccer team that will play in the USL Championship starting in 2028. The group, led by Echo Investment Capital, also includes former Thunder star Russell Westbrook and former MLS forward Jozy Altidore. The USL’s former Oklahoma City team, OKC Energy, suspended operations in 2022 and have never returned.