Polymarket and Nasdaq Private Market Launch Unicorn Markets

Polymarket partnered with Nasdaq Private Market to open real-time prediction markets on roughly 1,600 private unicorns. The markets let retail traders buy yes/no contracts tied to valuations, IPO timing and secondary share prices. Nasdaq Private Market’s transaction and pricing records serve as the authoritative source to resolve market outcomes.

Traders can buy contracts on specific milestones, such as whether a company will reach a set valuation by a given quarter or complete an IPO within a calendar year. Contract prices range from $0.01 to $0.99 and reflect the market’s view of the probability of an outcome. Winning contracts settle at $1.

Nasdaq Private Market supplies transaction and pricing data from private-company secondary trades and financing activity. Under the agreement, Polymarket will use that data to close markets and determine outcomes. The partners estimate the covered companies have a combined valuation of more than $5 trillion.

Polymarket plans to roll out additional private-company markets in the coming weeks. The platform has recorded weekly volumes in the billions during major events and has previously formed partnerships with market operators, including ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. Market observers have placed Polymarket’s valuation in a range of $8 billion to $9 billion.

In the announcement, Polymarket founder and chief executive officer Shayne Coplan wrote, “For the first time, anyone can engage with the outcomes driving value at the world’s most consequential private companies.”

The markets provide retail traders a way to hedge or speculate on pre-IPO dynamics such as valuation changes, IPO timing and secondary-share pricing. Institutional participants can use the crowd-sourced probabilities as an additional signal alongside private transaction records. Contracts resolve against Nasdaq Private Market’s records rather than external or subjective determinations.

Prediction markets aggregate dispersed information into price-based forecasts. According to the announcement, the partners intend the link between Polymarket and Nasdaq Private Market to increase transparency around events that affect private-company value and liquidity.