Menlo Park, CA-based Predictify, a community site for predicting future events, has raised a $4.3 million first round from Sierra Ventures and Sherpalo Ventures says Mashable. The site lets users predict outcomes on things like sporting and political events, offering cash awards for users that have a knack for correctly predicting outcomes. It makes money by charging companies to sponsor premium questions (a form of market research), with some of that distributed back to the correct predictors. In addition to the premium question, the site offers a totally free system, where users can establish a reputation. The site is notable for its partnership with the Freakonomics guys and their blog on the NYT. Predictify is one of several start-ups looking to use crowd wisdom to guess future events, but which are hamstrung by anti-gambling laws, which limit the extent to which propositions can come off as bets. Media Predict is another prediction market type site aiming to serve media companies by selling the wisdom of its community. It counts Simon & Schuster as a client. PicksPal is another well capitalized service looking to turn expert sports predictors into premium betting advice.

• Media Predict Sets Up Virtual Betting Parlor For Books
• Sports Betting Service PicksPal Raises $3 Million Third Round