Polymarket's $20B valuation shocked some people
Not everyone believes that Polymarket deserves $20B valuation because of metrics
E.g. Backpack's CEO said Polymarket had a small TVL, lifetime volume, etc.
BUT it seems that he compared all this using standard metrics for DEXs
Imo, such an approach isn't right
The DEX sphere has been formed for a long time
Large platforms like Hyperliquid, Uniswap, PancakeSwap, etc. have already settled there
Btw, the first DEX appeared in 2014
It took 12 years for this sphere to get to where it is now
So why should polymarket metrics also perform strongly right now?
In the 5 years of Polymarket's existence, it has already gained huge popularity among Web2 and Web3 users
Just look at the trading volume and amount of users on 2024 elections / Iran markets
And that popopularity and metrics will only rise
Because the number of disputable events which are interesting for people will never decrease
Polymarket and other PMs use it
I agree that the $20B valuation might be a little hyped up now
But Polymarket may have even larger potential in the future as the main frontrunner of the narrative
Polymarket raising at 20B is a great lesson in how a large part of venture capital works.
They have just under 400M in TVL according to DeFi Llama. Small by any standard. Lifetime volume (last time I checked anyway), hovering around 20B (let's be generous and say it's 50B). Small by any standard. The infrastructure, slow, trades settling in hundreds of milliseconds (at least according to the traders I've spoken to). Small by any standard.
The business as it stands today, small by any standard.
But they are *THE* market category leader. Their job is to win the market and for that market to grow with them remaining the leader.
Will that happen? Who knows.
But when fundraising from venture, look at your business through this lends. Can you become the market category leader?
If you can convince people of that, the capital will follow.