Polymarket announced on May 19 that it has partnered with Nasdaq Private Market (NPM) to launch a new category of prediction markets, allowing users to trade questions related to companies prior to an IPO, covering funding rounds, valuation changes, and key milestone events for startups. This release expands Polymarket’s product line from political and macroeconomic events and public companies to the private capital market.
## Confirmation Scope of the New Contracts
According to Polymarket’s official explanation, the new market allows users to trade events of the following types:
Funding Rounds: funding progress for startups and later-stage private companies
Valuation Changes: valuation milestone events for private companies
Other Important Events: key business milestone events for startups
## Nasdaq Private Market’s Confirmation Role
As confirmed in the announcement:
Nasdaq Private Market’s Nature: a platform providing secondary trading services for shares of non-listed companies
Role in this collaboration: providing underlying data for the contracts and market infrastructure
Contract Objective: to reflect the market’s expectations for pre-IPO funding rounds, valuations, and milestone events
## Scale Data for Private Market Confirmation
According to Polymarket’s official data confirmation:
Number of global unicorn companies: about 1,600 (private companies valued at $1 billion or more)
Total valuation: over $5 trillion
Market Characteristics: valuation data in private markets is often less transparent than in public stock markets, and the primary investment channels are still limited to private investors
Institutional Background: confirmed industry data
According to the reports that have been released for confirmation:
Retail proportion: according to the Bitget Wallet and Polymarket joint report released in April 2026, retail traders contributed 80% of the trading volume in prediction markets
Industry milestone confirmed by Bernstein: Kalshi’s first institutional block trade was marked by Bernstein as an industry milestone for prediction markets
Definition of block trades: trades privately negotiated and executed by large investors to transfer large positions without disturbing the overall market
## FAQ
#### How are Polymarket’s private-company contracts used with Nasdaq Private Market’s data?
According to the official announcement, Nasdaq Private Market provides underlying data and market infrastructure for Polymarket’s prediction contracts for private companies to reflect market expectations such as funding rounds and valuation changes. Specific details on the data integration mechanism and contract settlement have not yet been described in more official detail.
#### Why are prediction contracts for private companies meaningful to the market?
According to Polymarket’s explanation, the total valuation of about 1,600 global unicorn companies exceeds $5 trillion, but pricing data for these companies is usually not transparent and investment channels are mainly limited to private investors. Prediction markets help form public market expectation signals.
#### What is the current participation ratio of institutions and retail in prediction markets?
According to the joint report released by Bitget Wallet and Polymarket in April 2026, retail traders account for 80% of the trading volume in prediction markets; Bernstein also pointed out that Kalshi’s first institutional block trade marks rising institutional participation.
