Rapidus reports that Malmö-based Lyd Markets wants to bring prediction markets, one of the most talked about forms of betting right now, to Sweden and Europe as a regulated alternative to American giants like Kalshi and Polymarket.
Prediction markets are trading platforms where users bet money on future events such as election results, interest rate decisions, or in some cases wars and military operations. The sector has grown massively in recent years, but it is also contested, with criticism focusing on the blurred line between financial trading and gambling, the risk of manipulation, and the ethics of making human suffering an object of speculation.
“The problem with, for example, Polymarket is that they have a financial licence exclusively in the US, but they still market themselves to European consumers. Many European countries have therefore banned them, for example Denmark and Germany. We want to be the good guys, the regulated alternative. We believe that is how we build legitimacy in a relatively new technology,”
says co-founder Elias Eriksson to Rapidus
Unlike its competitors, Lyd Markets wants to be regulated as a betting company and is building the service to operate under European gambling legislation. The platform will require BankID verification and will have much more control over who bets on what. Alongside the gambling legislation, the company will formulate its own policies prohibiting speculation in human suffering and develop internal controls that flag suspicious activity.
Lyd Markets has applied for a gambling licence in Sweden and will shortly apply in Denmark, followed by Estonia and Finland, with the plan to hold a national licence in every market it operates in.
Rapidus reports the startup has so far raised roughly €600,000 (SEK 7 million) from family, business angels and Backstage Invest, a Gothenburg-based family office, but is in plans to raise more.
