Forum Market

Forum is a Y Combinator W26-backed startup building the first regulated exchange for trading cultural attention as a financial asset. The platform measures human engagement across search, social media, and streaming, converting those signals into tradeable indices that track what the world cares about — from blockbuster films and music artists to health trends and brand categories. Users can go long or short on any topic's popularity, providing a new financial instrument for hedging cultural risk. Founded in 2026 by Owen Botkin and Joseph Thomas, Forum is currently in beta with a waitlist and is backed by investors including Neer Venture Partners.