Polymarket names former Uber vice president as growth chief

Polymarket has hired Travis VanderZanden, a former executive at Uber and Lyft, as its Chief Growth Officer. VanderZanden comes to the prediction market from Bird, an electric scooter company he founded in May 2017. Previously, he spent two years at Uber as Vice President of Global Driver Growth and 18 months at Lyft as Chief Operating Officer.

Previous Industry Experience

VanderZanden has a rich background in technology companies. He worked at Yammer as Revenue Director before Microsoft acquired it in 2012 and was a Senior Product Manager at Qualcomm. This experience supports him in leading Polymarket's expansion, at a time when interest in prediction markets is on the rise.

Future Prospects for Polymarket

According to Bloomberg, Polymarket is negotiating to secure new funding with a valuation exceeding $20 billion. This financial expansion is part of CEO Shayne Coplan's strategy, who has built a platform that seeks to provide answers to key real-world questions.

VanderZanden explained on LinkedIn: > "My career has been about scaling complex two-sided markets from zero: driver growth at Uber, COO at Lyft, and then building Bird. Polymarket can be much more than a place to bet on elections or sports; it represents a new level of truth about how the world values uncertainty."

New Hires at Polymarket

In addition to VanderZanden, Polymarket has made other strategic hires in its executive team this year. In July, it brought on Paul Jordan as Chief Risk Officer, and in April, added Megan McGrath as Chief Compliance Officer and Natalie Oblazny as Head of Regulatory Affairs.

These hires reinforce Polymarket's commitment to solidifying its leadership and expansion in the competitive prediction market.