London, UK, March 11th, 2026,
While these companies are typically accessible only to institutional or accredited investors, Hecto’s platform allows users to engage with private market valuations through a prediction-based mechanism.
A Market for Private Company Valuations
Users participate by converting $CC, the native token of the Canton Network, into Hecto’s utility token $HECTO at a rate of 1:100.
Participants then allocate their $HECTO to private companies they expect to show higher estimated valuation growth during each prediction cycle.
Companies included in the market must have valuations above $100 billion, a category Hecto refers to as “hectocorns.”
At the end of each cycle:
Users who correctly predict the top-performing company receive rewards in $CC Users who make incorrect predictions retain their $HECTO tokens and can participate again in the next roundThe system is designed to create crowdsourced price signals for private companies, a segment of the market where valuation transparency is historically limited.
Bootstrapping Governance for the Future Index
Beyond generating valuation signals, the prediction market also distributes and stakes $HECTO tokens, which will later power governance for the protocol’s planned tokenized private equity index.
Funds raised during the early phase of the platform will be used to acquire pre-IPO shares that will ultimately back the index, enabling users to transition from forecasting private company performance to participating in an investment vehicle tied to those assets.
“Private markets have historically lacked transparent price discovery,” said Ultan Miller, CEO of Hecto. “Our goal is to create an open market where users can collectively signal which companies they believe will define the next generation of technology — and ultimately give them a pathway to participate in those opportunities.”
Validating Infrastructure on Canton
By running a prediction market in production, Hecto is testing the technical framework that will support future phases of the platform, including tokenized real-world equity assets.
From Participation to Ownership
The insights and governance participation generated through the platform will help shape Hecto’s forthcoming tokenized private equity index, which the company intends to back with pre-IPO shares acquired during the early phase of the protocol.
About Hecto
Media RepresentativeClara KellyGenius PR
