Identifying high-net-worth individuals in need of financial guidance is central to growth in the wealth management industry.
While advisors and sales teams use many signals to guide outreach, one of the strongest and most time-sensitive is often overlooked, the sale of a private business. A liquidity event instantly transforms business owners into high-net-worth individuals, creating a narrow window where the need for financial planning is at its peak.
We track more than 2,000 private company transactions each month in Dakota Marketplace and map those deals directly to key executives. This allows firms to gain a clear, actionable view into who has recently gone through a buyout and is likely navigating newfound liquidity, all in one place where you can view and act on every transaction.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace to source key executives and CEOs!
Top 10 Sponsor-Backed CEOs in Austin
1. David Stout – webAI
Recent Transaction: Venture Extension Round| 1/13/2026 | $2.5B
webAI closed a Series A extension round led by notable investors including Marc Benioff's Time Ventures, Atreides Management, and Forerunner Ventures, catapulting the company's valuation to $2.5 billion. The raise came just four months after the company's initial $60 million Series A, with a Series B round already in motion — a testament to the explosive investor demand for webAI's groundbreaking distributed, privacy-first AI platform.
David Stout is a visionary AI entrepreneur who built webAI from the ground up, pioneering privacy-focused, on-device AI solutions that enable large-scale models to run locally on consumer devices. A UPenn AI Award recipient and globally recognized thought leader, Stout led webAI to a landmark Series A funding round in 2024, raising over $60 million at a $700 million valuation.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
2. Jonathan Swerdlin – Function Health
Recent Transaction: Strategic Acquisition | 1/27/2026 | Undisclosed
Function Health was selected by Higginbotham, one of the largest independent insurance brokerages in the U.S. and a trusted employee benefits advisor since 1948, as a featured preventive health solution within its population health portfolio. The partnership makes Function Health's comprehensive 160+ biomarker screening platform available to Higginbotham's employer clients at $334 annually, positioning preventive health as a core workforce strategy rather than a simple wellness perk.
Jonathan Swerdlin is a serial entrepreneur and health-tech visionary who co-founded Function Health in 2021, building it into a groundbreaking platform that gives individuals access to over 160 lab tests and personalized insights from top physicians. Under his leadership, Function Health has scaled to hundreds of thousands of members, earned a spot on TIME's Most Influential Companies of 2025, and forged high-profile partnerships with Equinox and Thrive Global.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
3. J.J. Guy – Sevco Security
Recent Transaction: Strategic Acquisition | 2/23/2026 | Undisclosed
Arctic Wolf, a global leader in security operations, acquired Austin-based Sevco Security — a Gartner Magic Quadrant Visionary in Exposure Assessment Platforms — to integrate Sevco's cloud-native asset intelligence technology into its Aurora Platform. The acquisition strengthens Arctic Wolf's ability to deliver proactive, end-to-end exposure management by unifying asset intelligence, vulnerability context, and security control coverage across hybrid environments.
J.J. Guy is a seasoned cybersecurity entrepreneur and U.S. Air Force veteran who co-founded Sevco Security to deliver real-time asset intelligence and exposure assessment to security teams worldwide. With a distinguished career spanning Carbon Black's founding engineering team, COO of JASK, and advanced degrees from Johns Hopkins and Case Western, Guy built Sevco into a Gartner Magic Quadrant Visionary before its landmark acquisition by Arctic Wolf.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
4. Eric Herrera – MaverickX
Recent Transaction: Seed Venture | 1/13/2026 | $19M
MaverickX secured $19 million in Seed funding led by Olive Tree Capital, with participation from Y Combinator and other strategic investors, validating the company's breakthrough approach to sustainable resource extraction. The capital is already being put to work across oilfield, mining, and refining operations, where MaverickX's bio-driven solutions are helping companies optimize production, maximize metal recovery, and meet ESG mandates at a lower cost than traditional chemistries.
Eric Herrera is a pioneering biotechnology entrepreneur and former U.S. Army chemical defense researcher who co-founded MaverickX to revolutionize resource extraction using a breakthrough bacterium discovered during an Arctic expedition. Under his leadership, MaverickX has developed a sustainable, biology-driven platform for dissolving rock and extracting minerals and hydrocarbons, securing partnerships with multiple mining and oil and gas companies.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
5. Patrick Bowen – Neurophos
Recent Transaction: Series A Venture | 1/23/2026 | $110M
Neurophos raised a massively oversubscribed $110 million Series A led by Gates Frontier, with participation from M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund), Aramco Ventures, Bosch Ventures, Carbon Direct Capital, and a host of other top-tier investors, bringing total funding to $118 million. The capital will accelerate development of the company's groundbreaking optical processing unit — a drop-in GPU alternative that delivers up to 100x better performance and energy efficiency — while expanding its Austin headquarters and opening a new San Francisco engineering hub.
Patrick Bowen is a deep-tech pioneer and metamaterials expert who co-founded Neurophos to fundamentally reimagine AI inference through photonic in-memory computing, targeting performance gains of over 100x in speed and energy efficiency. Armed with a Ph.D. from Duke University and research experience spanning ETH Zurich, Kymeta Corporation, and Metacept, Bowen brings world-class expertise in metamaterials to one of the most compelling hardware plays in the AI acceleration space.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
6. Malte Kramer – Luxury Presence
Recent Transaction: Series C Funding + Debt Facility | 1/8/2026 | $37M
Luxury Presence closed a $37 million raise — comprising a $22 million Series C led by repeat investor Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from NextEquity, GSBackers, and others, plus a $15 million debt facility from J.P. Morgan — to accelerate the launch of Presence® CRM, the first AI relationship engine built specifically for real estate agents. The funding caps a remarkable growth run that saw Luxury Presence surpass $85 million in ARR, serve over 17,000 real estate businesses, and facilitate $450 billion in annual transaction volume across its platform.
Malte is a Stanford MBA-trained entrepreneur who founded Luxury Presence in 2016 with a bold vision to modernize real estate marketing, scaling the company to over 15,000 clients and $50 million in annual recurring revenue by 2024 — doubling year-over-year. Recognized as Inman's 2024 Best of Proptech Entrepreneur and HousingWire's 2024 Tech Trendsetter, Malte continues to push the industry forward with AI-powered innovations like Copilot, serving elite agents such as Ryan Serhant, Dawn McKenna, and Jade Mills.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
7. Dean Drako – Eagle Eye Networks
Recent Transaction: Merger / Acquisition | 12/29/2025 | Undisclosed
Eagle Eye Networks and Brivo — both chaired and founded by Dean Drako — completed a landmark merger in December 2025 to form the world's largest AI cloud-native physical security company, operating under the Brivo name. The combined entity unifies AI, access control, video intelligence, visitor management, and intrusion detection into a single platform, securing over one billion square feet of property across 80 countries.
Dean Drako is the Founder and CEO of Eagle Eye Networks, a legendary serial entrepreneur, who previously founded Barracuda Networks — growing it to over 150,000 customers and 140 products — before pioneering cloud-based video surveillance with Eagle Eye Networks in 2012. A true innovator across multiple industries, he also acquired cloud access control leader Brivo, and founded Drako Motors, maker of the world's most powerful all-electric hypercar, cementing his reputation as one of tech's most prolific builder-CEOs.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
8. Brad Wilson – Care.com
Recent Transaction: Buyout / Private Equity | 3/2/2026 | $320M
Pacific Avenue Capital Partners, a global private equity firm specializing in corporate carve-outs, agreed to acquire Care.com from IAC in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $320 million, with the deal expected to close in the first half of 2026. The acquisition positions Care.com as an independent, standalone company, with Pacific Avenue partnering with CEO Brad Wilson and the leadership team to accelerate growth — particularly in scaling the company's enterprise offerings across the $400 billion family care market.
Brad Wilson is a world-class consumer technology executive whose impressive career includes spearheading the launch of Disney+, the fastest-growing subscription service on record, and driving HBO Max's expansion into 61 countries. Since being appointed CEO of Care.com in June 2023, Wilson has brought his proven expertise in scaling global platforms and deepening customer relationships to transform how millions of families connect with and manage care for their loved ones.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
9. Travis Schwab – Eventus Systems
Recent Transaction: Buyout / Private Equity | 2/26/2026 | Undisclosed
Terminus Capital Partners, a growth-oriented private equity firm focused on B2B software, made a majority investment in Austin-based Eventus to accelerate the company's global expansion and product innovation across its award-winning Validus trade surveillance platform. The investment will fuel geographic growth, strategic acquisitions, and continued platform development as Eventus strengthens its position serving tier-1 banks, broker-dealers, exchanges, and regulators navigating an increasingly complex global regulatory environment.
Travis Schwab is a seasoned financial technology executive and compliance expert who has led Eventus to become one of the most decorated trade surveillance providers in the world, growing its client base to over 100 companies with nearly 40% of revenue generated outside the U.S. Drawing on a distinguished career spanning the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Trading Technologies, and RGM Securities, Schwab has built Eventus into a mission-critical partner for tier-1 banks, broker-dealers, and regulators navigating the world's most complex trading environments.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
10. Colton Pace – Ownwell
Recent Transaction: Series B Venture| 2/19/2026 | $50M
Ownwell closed a $50 million Series B — comprising $30 million in equity led by Alpha Edison and Mercato Partners, with participation from Intuit Ventures, First Round Capital, Left Lane Capital, and others, plus $20 million in debt financing from Western Alliance Bank — bringing total funding to $74 million. The raise fuels Ownwell's national expansion and product development as the company accelerates its mission to democratize property tax appeals, having already surpassed one million appeals processed with an 86% success rate and average annual savings of $774 per customer.
Colton Pace is a UCLA Anderson MBA and former venture capital investor who co-founded Ownwell to level the playing field for everyday homeowners, scaling the company to over 350,000 customers and 100+ employees by combining AI-powered technology with deep local property tax expertise. Under his leadership, Ownwell has established itself as the category-defining leader in PropTech property tax appeals, processing over one million appeals and saving customers millions of dollars across the country.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
Where Liquidity Events Become Prospecting Signals
Finding prospects may not be the challenge, it’s knowing when to reach them.
Private company transactions are one of the clearest signals of imminent need. They turn operating executives into newly liquid decision-makers almost overnight. Firms that align outreach to these moments gain a real advantage in timing, relevance, and conversion.
Dakota Marketplace delivers that edge.
Our combination of real-time private company transaction data and “likely to transact” signals allows RIAs and advisors to engage in timely, highly relevant outreach to individuals with newly acquired, or soon-to-be-acquired, wealth.
You’ll see all private company transactions in one place, updated continuously, so your team can prioritize outreach, engage with confidence, and convert at the right moment.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace to source key executives and CEOs!
