Polymarket Partners with Nasdaq to Resolve Pre-IPO Prediction Contracts

A new partnership between prediction market platform Polymarket and Nasdaq Private Market aims to improve the way event contracts pertaining to privately held companies are settled.

What's the Scoop?

• Prediction Partnership: Through an exclusive agreement, Nasdaq Private Market – a leading provider of liquidity and investment infrastructure in private markets – will serve as the resolution data provider for event contracts involving private companies on Polymarket. According to a press release on the partnership, "By pairing Polymarket’s prediction market infrastructure with Nasdaq Private Market... the new offering gives individuals a transparent way to engage with verifiable private company events, which may include valuation milestones, IPO timing and secondary market activity."
• Live Launch: The first private company prediction markets will launch on Polymarket today, with additional markets rolling out on an ongoing basis. While Polymarket had previously allowed its users to speculate on the time until IPO and valuation upon IPO of the most hyped private market companies (such as OpenAI and SpaceX), those contracts relied on public information for resolution. This newest partnership will allow Polymarket to support a broader range of event contracts, enabling markets to resolve before companies ever go public.
• Large Market: Nearly 1,600 unicorns (companies with market capitalizations above $1B) globally amount for more than $5T in cumulative value, yet access has been largely reserved for institutions and high-net-worth investors. Polymarket aims to democratize access to such companies with its latest offering.