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Tarek Mansour

Unicorn founder

Co-founder & CEO at Kalshi

New York, NY

FoundedKalshi$22B · YC

Find your path to Tarek

11,043 people in our graph share verified history with Tarek — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Yasmin RazaviunlockedTarek: together at Kalshi (2025–2026)
×4Tarek: together at Kalshi
Tarek: together at YC W19
×6Tarek: together at Citadel

About

Tarek Mansour co-founded Kalshi in 2018 and spent seven years turning event contracts from a regulatory impossibility into a $22 billion company — raising $1 billion led by Coatue in May 2026, double the mark set five months earlier. Born in California and raised in Lebanon, he studied mathematics and computer science at MIT, interned at Goldman Sachs and traded at Citadel Securities, then founded Kalshi with MIT classmate Luana Lopes Lara. Kalshi won a CFTC exchange licence, beat the regulator in court to list election contracts through the 2024 election, and in April 2026 won the first federal appellate ruling that commodities law preempts state gambling law for sports event contracts.

Likely emails· guessed from name + firm domain, not firm-published

Beyond investing

Founded
Co-founded Kalshi in 2018 with Luana Lopes Lara, whom he met at MIT; each owns roughly 12%. Mansour founded the prediction market Kalshi in 2018 with Luana Lopes Lara, whom he met as a student at MIT.
Education
Studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, mathematics and computer science, 2018) Studied at Collège Louise Wegmann
Awards
Named a self-made billionaire by Forbes in December 2025, with his stake roughly doubling to $2.6B by May 2026.
Family
Born in California in 1996 and raised in Lebanon, where he attended Collège Louise Wegman before returning to the US in 2014. Mansour is Catholic, with a Catholic father and an Orthodox mother.
More
Kalshi sued the CFTC over election contracts and won at district court in September 2024; the D.C. Circuit denied the regulator's stay, letting congressional-control contracts trade through the election. In April 2026 the Third Circuit affirmed Kalshi's injunction against New Jersey — the first federal appellate holding that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling law for sports event contracts. Says most business advice is 'trash' and that founders should take risks instead; has ruled out an IPO before 2027.

Mentioned above: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mafia →

From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder & CEO at KalshiYC W19

Intro paths

YC

Tarek went through Y Combinator (Winter 2019) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.

→

In turn, Tarek can intro founders to Kalshi's investors below.

Kalshi's investors · 36

a16z cryptoMenlo ParkAlpha PartnersNew York · $3M – $10M checksAndreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2025Anthos CapitalSanta Monica · $500K – $10M checks · since 2025CapitalGSan Francisco · $75M – $100M checks · since 2025Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks · since 2026Conductive VenturesMountain ViewDeviation CapitalNew YorkEQUIAMSan Francisco · $1M – $10M checksEverybody Ventures$100K checksFormus CapitalHuman CapitalSan Francisco · $250K – $200M checksIntegra GroupeMenlo Park · $100K – $200K checksInterplay Ventures Early Stage Management LlcNew York · $1M checksIVP (Institutional Venture Partners)San Francisco · $15M – $75M checks · since 2025J17 CapitalJam FundLos Angeles · $500K – $20M checksManhattan WestLos AngelesMantis CapitalSanta Monica · $100K – $1M checksMech VenturesLas VegasMeritech Capital PartnersPalo Alto · $5M – $40M checksMorgan StanleyPurchase · since 2026Multicoin CapitalAustin · $1M – $50M checksNexus BayTelegraph BayNight CapitalCapitolaParadigmSan Francisco · $1M – $100M checks · since 2025Pathlight VenturesOld Bridge · $500K – $5M checksRazor CapitalSequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks · since 2025SGH CapitalParisSoma CapitalSacramento · $100K – $300K checksSpark CapitalSan Francisco · $500K – $25M checksSV AngelSan FranciscoThirdbaseNew YorkWealthUnion$10K checksY CombinatorSan Francisco · $150K checks · since 2019

Co-founders at Kalshi

LLLuana Lopes Lara
Luana Lopes LaraFounder

Experience

  1. KalshiCo-founder and CEOcurrent2019 — presentNew York, United States
  2. CitadelMacro Trader2018 — 2019New York City Metropolitan Area
  3. MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)Artificial Intelligence Researcher2018Cambridge, MA
  4. Palantir TechnologiesForward Deployed Engineer2017 — 2018New York City Metropolitan Area
  5. Goldman SachsEquity Derivatives Analyst2016New York City Metropolitan Area

Skills & more

Matlab54Python48HTML38CSS9AutoCAD11C++14Programming19Software Development11Data Analysis22Market Analysis5Company Valuation5Equity Research4
+8 moreInvestment BankingJavaReact.jsx86 AssemblyCJavaScriptMachine LearningReinforcement Learning

Languages Arabic · French

From Tarek's professional profile.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Tarek Mansour

Kalshi CEO says prediction market thinking about IPO, but not this year

CNBC · cnbc.com

How To Build Moats and Defensibility Against Large Incumbents

20VC · thetwentyminutevc.com

Frequently asked questions

Who is Tarek Mansour?
Tarek Mansour co-founded Kalshi in 2018 and spent seven years turning event contracts from a regulatory impossibility into a $22 billion company — raising $1 billion led by Coatue in May 2026, double the mark set five months earlier. Born in California and raised in Lebanon, he studied mathematics and computer science at MIT, interned at Goldman Sachs and traded at Citadel Securities, then founded Kalshi with MIT classmate Luana Lopes Lara. Kalshi won a CFTC exchange licence, beat the regulator in court to list election contracts through the 2024 election, and in April 2026 won the first federal appellate ruling that commodities law preempts state gambling law for sports event contracts.
Where does Tarek Mansour work?
Tarek Mansour is Co-founder & CEO of Kalshi.
What companies did Tarek Mansour found?
Tarek Mansour founded Kalshi.
Where did Tarek Mansour go to school?
Tarek Mansour studied at Y Combinator; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.Sc, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mathematics); College Louise Wegmann.
What awards has Tarek Mansour received?
Named a self-made billionaire by Forbes in December 2025, with his stake roughly doubling to $2.6B by May 2026.
What podcasts and interviews feature Tarek Mansour?
Tracked appearances include "Kalshi CEO says prediction market thinking about IPO, but not this year", "How To Build Moats and Defensibility Against Large Incumbents".

Founder mafias

College Louise Wegmann mafia3

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Ronny ShibleyHigh School DiplomaFounded Hiccup +2Walid HannaBacc FrancaisFounded MEVP

Same school

Shared employers