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Dakota Marketplace Investment Banking · 2026

The Intelligence Layer for Every Mandate, Sponsor Coverage and M&A Advisory.

Sponsor Coverage: 13,000+ GPs, 57,000+ funds, new fund launch signals, portfolio co exit timing
M&A Advisory: 640,000+ private companies, 20,000+ transactions, CEO contacts, sell-side mandate signals
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13,000+
GP Firms
57,000+
Private Funds
640,000+
Private Companies
20,000+
Transactions
~2,000
New Deals / Month
Two Businesses. One Platform.

Investment Banking Has Two Distinct Mandate Pipelines. Dakota Serves Both.

Most investment banks run two distinct businesses under one roof. Dakota provides purpose-built intelligence for each.

Sponsor Coverage Group
GP Intelligence, Know Every Fund, Every Portco, Every Timing Signal
13,000+
GP Firms
57,000+
Private Funds
5,000+ PE firms with fund vintages, sizes, and performance data
7,000+ VC firms with team contacts and portfolio company maps
New fund launch signals, know before the roadshow starts
Portfolio company hold period tracking, exit window flags
275 third-party marketers with fundraising activity data
Fund performance data on 14,000+ private funds (IRR, TVPI, DPI)
Managing partner bios and direct contact information
M&A Advisory Group
Private Company Intelligence, Mandate Signals Before the Pitch
640,000+
Private Companies
20,000+
Transactions
Sponsor-backed portcos approaching exit windows, sell-side signals
Founder-owned companies at generational transition, first-time mandate
CEO, CFO, and board direct contact information, 220,000+ executives
Full transaction history, prior M&A, funding, and exits
Investment bank league table data, track who ran which processes
Sector market maps, every company in any target vertical
~2,000 new verified transactions added each month
M&A Advisory Group

640,000+ Private Companies, Every Sell-Side Mandate Opportunity in One Place.

Most M&A advisory origination is reactive. A company is sold when the banker hears about it, not when the banker positioned themselves as the logical advisor eighteen months earlier. Dakota makes origination proactive, with 640,000+ private companies, hold period timing, and CEO direct contacts for systematic pipeline coverage.

We built our entire industrials M&A origination list from Dakota's sector data. 237,000 companies in the industrials universe, filtered to our revenue range and ownership profile, with CEO contacts attached. We had a systematic calling list in two days that would have taken our team months to build from banker networks and news searches.
Managing Director, Middle Market M&A Advisory Firm
01
Sell-Side Mandate Signals, Sponsor Portcos Approaching Exit
Dakota's hold period tracking identifies portcos at year 3-4 of a typical PE ownership cycle, giving your team a systematic pipeline of sell-side mandate opportunities before any of them have started talking to banks.
02
Founder-Owned Companies, The First-Time M&A Mandate
70,000+ founder-owned businesses approaching generational transitions or a first institutional sale. The most relationship-driven category of M&A mandate origination. Dakota identifies them and gives you the CEO's direct contact.
03
Buy-Side Acquirer Lists, Build in Hours, Not Weeks
Dakota's sector data and transaction history builds the complete acquirer list in hours, not weeks. Filter by sector, sub-industry, company size, transaction history, and ownership type.
04
Comparable Transaction Research, Precedent Analysis in Minutes
Every comparable transaction in any sector, with buyer, seller, bank adviser, and approximate valuation. Build a defensible comp set for any pitch book in hours, not days of manual research.
Transaction Intelligence in Action

What Investment Bankers See in Dakota's Transaction Feed.

Representative examples of the deal intelligence Dakota delivers, showing the participant detail and mandate timing signals that give banking teams the edge.

Sponsor Coverage Signal, New Fund Launch
Apollo Global Management
PE / Buyout, Fund XI, $25B Target
Signal Type
Fund Formation Filing
Prior Fund
Fund X, $25B (2021)
Strategy Focus
Buyout, Credit, Real Assets
Key Contact
Managing Partner, Direct
Coverage Signal: Fund XI formation detected 6 weeks before formal LP roadshow. First-mover window for placement and capital markets advisory mandates still open.
M&A Advisory, Sell-Side Mandate Opportunity
Southeast Healthcare Services Group
Healthcare, Physician Management, Atlanta, GA
Sponsor
Warburg Pincus
Hold Period
Acquired 2021, Year 4
Revenue Est.
$200M+
CEO Contact
Verified, Direct line
Mandate Signal: Year 4 of sponsor's typical 4-6 year hold. Proactive banker outreach to portco CEO now positions for the sell-side mandate before formal bank pitches begin.
Completed Transaction, Process Intelligence
Pacific Northwest Industrial Services
Industrials, Environmental Services, Seattle, WA
Sell-Side Bank
Jefferies
Buy-Side Bank
Houlihan Lokey
Seller
Vista Equity (5-yr hold)
Buyer
KKR (strategic add-on)
Legal, Sell
Kirkland & Ellis
Legal, Buy
Latham & Watkins
League Table: Sell-side adviser confirmed in environmental services. 3 comparable portcos still in hold, potential next sell-side mandates flagged.
First-Time Mandate, Founder-Owned Company
Midwest Specialty Chemicals LLC
Materials, Specialty Chemicals, Columbus, OH
Ownership
Founder / Family, 35 years
Revenue Est.
$75M–$110M
Prior Transactions
0, First institutional
CEO Contact
Direct line in Dakota
First-Mandate Opportunity: Founder approaching retirement age. No prior banker relationships. Proactive advisory outreach builds the relationship before the company begins considering options.

* Transaction examples are illustrative of the Dakota Marketplace data format. All actual transactions include verified contacts, sponsor attribution, and real-time mandate timing signals.

The Complete GP Universe for Sponsor Coverage

13,000+ GP Firms Across Every Alternative Asset Strategy.

From mega-cap buyout funds to emerging managers, giving sponsor coverage teams systematic market coverage, not just the GPs who already call them.

7,000+
Venture Capital Firms
Seed through growth, team contacts, portfolio maps
5,000+
Private Equity Firms
LBO, growth, buyout, fund vintages, portfolio co data
3,725
Real Estate GPs
Equity, debt, development, fund structures, strategy focus
3,000+
Hedge Funds
Macro, equity L/S, credit, AUM, strategy breakdowns
2,500+
Long-Only Equity
Active managers, mutual funds, separate account managers
1,091
Private Credit Firms
Direct lending, mezzanine, fund performance, LP base
275
Third-Party Marketers
TPM coverage, managed strategies, fundraising activity
136
PE Fund-of-Funds
Commitments, LP investors, return data
What Banking Teams Do With Dakota Every Day

Six Workflows That Replace Weeks of Manual Research.

Sponsor Coverage
Identify New Fund Launches Before the Roadshow
Formation filings and LP commitment signals surface new fund launches weeks before formal bank outreach begins. Your team pitches for the mandate before competing banks have identified it.
57,000+ funds tracked, Launch signals, Target size data
M&A Advisory
Build a Systematic Sell-Side Mandate Pipeline
Filter 640,000+ private companies by sponsor, hold period, and sector to identify sell-side mandate opportunities approaching exit timing, then reach the CEO directly, months before the formal process begins.
Hold period signals, CEO direct contacts, Systematic pipeline
Pitch Book Research
Precedent Transactions in Hours
Every comparable transaction in any sector, with buyer, seller, bank adviser, and approximate valuation. Two days of analyst research now takes two hours.
20,000+ transactions, Full participants, Time-period filtered
Buy-Side Mandate
Build the Acquirer Universe for Any Sector
Every strategic buyer in the sector, every sponsor with a relevant platform company. Dakota builds the complete acquirer list in hours, not weeks, with contacts at each institution.
Sector market maps, Acquirer identification, Contact mapping
League Table Intelligence
Know Your Competitive Position
Transaction participant data shows which banks ran which processes in your coverage sectors, where you have a track record, where a competitor has an incumbent relationship, and where deal flow is underserved.
Bank activity by sector, Process history, Incumbent mapping
CRM Integration
Deal Intelligence Where Your Team Already Works
Dakota pushes GP intelligence, transaction data, and mandate timing signals directly into DealCloud, Salesforce, HubSpot, and Snowflake. No separate tab to check.
DealCloud, Salesforce, Snowflake, HubSpot, Native integration
Measurable Impact for Investment Banking Teams

Four Claims. Both Sponsor Coverage and M&A Advisory.

More mandates from better information, faster. Across both sponsor coverage and M&A advisory.

Earlier
Mandate Identification, Before the Formal Process
The banker who identified the mandate eighteen months earlier, from a hold period signal or a fund launch flag, and built a relationship before the process started wins on trust. The banker who finds out with everyone else competes on fees.
Sponsor coverage: new fund launch signals weeks before the roadshow. M&A advisory: exit window signals months before the banker pitch begins.
5-10×
Expansion in Coverage Universe
Most banking teams cover the top tier through existing relationships. Dakota's 13,000+ GP firms and 640,000+ private companies give systematic coverage of the mid-market where the most transaction volume lives.
The GP firms and private companies outside your existing relationship network represent the expansion opportunity. Dakota identifies them and gives you the contact to start the conversation.
20-30
Hours of Analyst Research Eliminated Every Week
Pitch book research, comparable transaction analysis, acquirer list building, sector market maps. The research work that consumes analyst capacity is dramatically compressed. The time recovered goes to relationships and execution, not database searches.
Precedent transaction comps in hours instead of days. Sector market maps in minutes instead of months. Acquirer lists complete, not partial.
Better
Pitch Quality, More Prepared, More Differentiated
A coverage banker who walks into a GP meeting knowing the fund's performance versus peer vintage vehicles, which portcos are approaching exit windows, and which add-ons are available in their sector demonstrates a qualitatively different level of preparation.
Fund performance benchmarking. Portco exit timing. Comparable transaction analysis. Every preparation advantage in one platform.
Works With Your CRM

Dakota Intelligence Inside Every Platform Investment Bankers Already Use.

GP intelligence, transaction data, and mandate timing signals pushed into the systems your bankers already use every day.

DealCloud
Primary, IB & PE CRM
Salesforce
Native, AppExchange
Snowflake
Data Warehouse, SQL
HubSpot
CRM Integration
Dynamo
CRM Integration
Altvia
CRM Integration
Pinnakl
CRM Integration
Dakota API
REST, All Datasets
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See Dakota's Investment Banking Platform for your team.

Most banking teams are productive within the first week, with immediate access to 13,000+ GP firms, 640,000+ private companies, and 20,000+ transactions.

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Tel: (610) 642-1481 

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