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 CEOs in San Francisco
1. Eric Senn – Badge
Recent Transaction: Series A Venture | 2/19/2026 | $13.8M
Badge raised $17.1 million, including a $13.8 million Series A led by TTV Capital with participation from Stripe and others, to expand its platform that enables enterprises to build and manage dynamic experiences within Apple and Google Wallets. The company will use the funding to accelerate go-to-market efforts, enhance product capabilities, and scale partnerships as digital wallets evolve into a primary customer engagement and commerce interface.
Eric Senn is co-founder and CEO of Badge, a platform that enables enterprises to build dynamic customer experiences within Apple and Google Wallets. A seasoned technology entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in software architecture and cloud computing, he previously co-founded Storr, an e-commerce enablement company serving brands like Adidas and Rothy’s, and is a Yale University graduate.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
2. Aaron Fulkerson – Opaque
Recent Transaction: Series B Venture | 2/12/2026 | $24M
OPAQUE raised $24 million in Series B funding led by Walden Catalyst, bringing total funding to $55.5 million and valuing the Confidential AI platform at approximately $300 million post-money. The company will use the capital to accelerate deployment of its verifiable privacy and governance infrastructure, helping enterprises securely scale AI across sensitive data, sovereign cloud, and post-quantum environments.
Aaron Fulkerson is a technology entrepreneur and founder of MindTouch, with experience spanning open-source platforms, AI product development, and distributed systems research at Microsoft. He currently serves as CEO of Opaque Systems, where he leads the development of privacy-enhancing technologies and collaborates with partners such as Microsoft Azure, NVIDIA, and Accenture to advance the Confidential AI ecosystem.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
3. Anurag Goel – Render
Recent Transaction: Seed Venture | 1/21/2026 | $100M
Render raised a $100 million Series C extension led by Georgian at a $1.5 billion valuation, bringing total funding to $258 million. The company will use the capital to expand its unified cloud platform for AI-native software, adding new infrastructure capabilities to help developers build and deploy AI applications and agents at scale.
Anurag Goel is the Founder and CEO of Render, a modern cloud platform designed to simplify application hosting for developers and startups. Previously Head of Risk at Stripe during its early high-growth years, he later founded AI infrastructure company Crestle (acquired by doc.ai) and has led Render’s rapid expansion as an alternative to traditional hyperscale cloud providers.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
4. Ankur Goyal – Brainstrust
Recent Transaction: Series Venture B | 2/17/2026 | $80M
Braintrust raised $80 million in Series B funding led by ICONIQ, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Elad Gil, and others, to expand its AI observability platform for production environments. The company is scaling its engineering and go-to-market teams to meet growing demand from enterprises embedding AI agents and models into mission-critical workflows.
Ankur Goyal is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Braintrust, where he leads the company’s strategy and operations from its San Francisco headquarters. He joined the company in October 2025 and serves as an executive focused on scaling Braintrust’s AI observability platform for production environments.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
5. Will Lawrence – Bretton AI (Formerly Greenlite AI)
Recent Transaction: Venture Series B | 2/10/2026 | $75M
Bretton AI (formerly Greenlite AI) raised $75 million in Series B funding led by Sapphire Ventures to expand its AI-powered financial crime platform used by regulated banks for KYC, AML, and sanctions investigations. The company will use the capital to deepen regulatory engagement, broaden its compliance use cases, and scale adoption of its audit-ready “Trust Infrastructure” across large financial institutions.
Will Lawrence is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bretton AI (formerly Greenlite), an AI-powered financial crime automation platform helping fintechs and banks streamline compliance operations. Previously, he held product leadership roles at Meta (Payments and WhatsApp Compliance) and Paxos, where he built global compliance infrastructure supporting millions of crypto wallets; he is a University of British Columbia graduate and Y Combinator S23 founder who has led Greenlite through a $5.3 million Series A led by Greylock.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
6. Shan Kulkarni – Nullify
Recent Transaction: Seed Venture | 2/5/2026 | $12.5M
Nullify raised $12.5 million in seed funding led by SYN Ventures, bringing total capital raised to $16.9 million, to scale its AI-powered “workforce” for product security. The company’s autonomous AI agents replace manual vulnerability detection and remediation workflows, helping enterprises reduce risk, eliminate tool sprawl, and address the growing cybersecurity talent gap.
Shan Kulkarni is the CEO and co-founder of Nullify, an AI-driven application security company focused on automating and scaling security workflows for engineering teams. With a background in cloud and cybersecurity, he previously worked as a Cloud Security Engineer at CMD Solutions Australia, led cloud operations at UNSW Redback Racing, taught cybersecurity at the University of New South Wales, and consulted with enterprises on AWS security.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
7. Mike Xu – GrubMarket
Recent Transaction: Series H Growth Equity | 2/2/2026 | $50M
GrubMarket raised $50 million in Series H funding with a mult-billion dollar pre-money valuation to accelerate its AI-powered software and global eCommerce expansion across the food supply chain. The capital will support further technology development, infrastructure investment, and acquisitions as the company scales its enterprise AI and B2B marketplace platform worldwide.
Mike Xu is the Founder and CEO of GrubMarket, an AI-powered technology company transforming the global food supply chain. Under his leadership, the firm has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise, expanded across all 50 U.S. states and multiple international markets, and developed platforms like GrubAssist, WholesaleWare, and Orders IO to drive efficiency and sustainability in food distribution.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
8. Kexin Huang – Phylo Inc.
Recent Transaction: Venture Seed | 2/3/2026 | $13.5M
Phylo raised $13.5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to expand Biomni Lab, its AI-powered “integrated biology environment” that connects dozens of lab tools, databases, and software packages through a unified interface. The platform enables biologists to run complex analyses, simulations, and data workflows using natural language, streamlining research processes that traditionally require multiple incompatible systems and manual intervention.
Kexin Huang is the Co-founder and CEO of Phylo, an AI-driven biotechnology company building Biomni Lab, an integrated biology environment designed to accelerate scientific research through agentic AI. She previously co-founded the open-source Biomni project and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University, where her work focused on applying AI to biological research.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
9. Vahid Saadat – Inquis Medical
Recent Transaction: Venture Series C | 1/12/2026 | $75M
Inquis Medical raised $75 million in Series C funding from a strategic investor to accelerate nationwide commercialization of its AVENTUS™ Thrombectomy System and advance its next-generation pipeline. The financing follows expanded regulatory clearance and positive clinical data supporting the system’s efficacy in treating pulmonary embolism, positioning the company to scale sales, training, and clinical adoption across the VTE market.
Vahid Saadat is the Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Board Member of Inquis Medical, where he leads the company’s executive strategy and operations. Based in the San Francisco metro area, he has served in this role since October 2025.
View the full profile in Dakota Marketplace.
10. John Vitalie – Aktana
Recent Transaction: Buyout / Private Equity | 1/7/2026 | Undisclosed
PharmaForceIQ acquired Aktana to integrate its AI-driven field next-best-action platform with PharmaForceIQ’s digital orchestration engine, creating an end-to-end “optichannel” engagement solution for pharmaceutical companies. The transaction expands PharmaForceIQ’s global footprint and enhances its ability to unify brand, field, and digital strategy while delivering measurable improvements in sales performance, engagement, and operational efficiency.
John Vitalie is the Chief Executive Officer of Aktana, a provider of intelligent customer engagement solutions for the global life sciences industry. A veteran technology executive, he has led AI/ML, SaaS, CRM, and CX businesses at Salesforce, Siebel Systems, and Oracle, and previously served as CEO of multiple software companies, including Aizon, where he launched an advanced GxP AI and data platform for biopharma manufacturing.
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!
