Tracking when private companies are nearing a sale, recap, or financing event has always been a guessing game. With thousands of sponsor-backed firms spread across sectors and geographies, most deal teams are forced to react after the market moves.
Investors, bankers, and service providers struggle to know which private companies are gearing up for a transaction or capital raise. Signals are scattered, opaque, and nearly impossible to track across thousands of PE- and VC-backed businesses.
Dakota centralizes those signals (holding periods, funding rounds, platform acquisition dates, ownership changes, and exit timing patterns) into one predictive transaction-readiness tool. Instead of waiting for headlines, users can see which companies are showing the strongest likelihood of pursuing a sale, recapitalization, or new financing before the market knows.
Below is today’s list of five PE- or VC-backed companies that, based on their hold period, financing stage, and last transaction date, appear to be credible candidates for a sale or next-round raise.
Nothing is guaranteed, but these companies fall squarely within the timing windows where sponsors typically look to generate liquidity or secure additional capital.
Sourced from Dakota Sponsor Backed Companies.
1. Summit BHC
Summit Behavioral Healthcare operates a network of behavioral health centers across the United States, providing services such as addiction treatment, acute psychiatric care, detoxification programs, and partial hospitalization programs. Their mission is to help patients achieve their full potential by offering evidence-based treatment options in a caring and supportive environment.
- Sector: Healthcare
- Industry: Healthcare Providers & Services
- Last known transaction date: Acquisition by Patient Square Capital, September 2021
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Patient Square Capital
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Sept 2021 → now ~4.3 years, right at/just beyond the ~4-year hold window, consistent with a likely recap or exit (BH platforms often see sponsor-to-sponsor activity).
2. Therapy Brands
Therapy Brands, now known as Ensora Health, is a provider of mental and behavioral health software solutions, offering integrated practice management and electronic health record (EHR) systems tailored for mental health professionals, substance use recovery, applied behavior analysis, and rehabilitation services. Their platform aims to enhance patient care and operational efficiency for healthcare providers.
- Sector: Healthcare
- Industry: Healthcare Providers & Services
- Last known transaction date: Acquisition by KKR, April 2021
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by KKR with participation from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: April 2021 → now ~4.6 years, i.e., past the ~4-year PE hold-period where sponsors often pursue a sale/recap/sponsor-to-sponsor/minority outcome—especially for sticky workflow/EHR assets in BH.
3. PayZen
PayZen is a healthcare fintech company founded in 2019, specializing in AI-powered patient financing solutions that enhance healthcare affordability by offering personalized, interest-free payment plans to patients, thereby improving revenue collection for healthcare providers.
- Sector: Healthcare
- Industry: Healthcare Providers & Services
- Last known funding round: Series B, $32M, announced August 2024
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by NEA, with participation from New Enterprise Associates, SignalFire, Viola Ventures, and 7wire Ventures.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: B → C ~18 months. Aug 2024 is now ~16–17 months, i.e., inside your 12–18 month band and approaching the typical next-step threshold—raising odds of a Series C, strategic minority, or M&A.
4. Doccla
Doccla is a UK-based healthtech company specializing in virtual ward services, enabling hospital-level care at home through remote patient monitoring. Founded in 2019 by Martin Ratz and Dag Larsson, the company partners with healthcare organizations to provide proactive care, clinical monitoring, patient support, and device logistics, aiming to reduce hospital admissions and improve patient outcomes.
- Sector: Healthcare
- Industry: Healthcare Providers & Services
- Last known funding round: Series B, $45.7M, announced September 2024
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Lakestar, with participation from Elaia, General Catalyst, Bertelsmann Investments, and Speedinvest.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: B → C ~18 months. Sept 2024 is now ~16 months, i.e., within 12–18 months and nearing the expected step-up point—often when companies pursue a Series C, strategic, or M&A (especially in hospital capacity / home-based care).
5. Stepful
Stepful is a training platform dedicated to providing individuals without college degrees the opportunity to pursue entry-level healthcare careers. By offering online instructor-led classes, electronic textbooks, practice quizzes, flashcards, in-person clinical sessions, and job placement support, Stepful aims to address the U.S. healthcare worker shortage by equipping high school graduates with the necessary skills for roles such as medical assistants and pharmacy technicians.
- Sector: Healthcare
- Industry: Healthcare Providers & Services
- Last known funding round: Series B, $31.5M, announced November 2024.
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Y Combinator, Reach Capital, AlleyCorp, SemperVirens, Company Ventures, Green Sands, ECMC Education Impact Fund, Intermountain Ventures, and Cedar Pine.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: B → C ~18 months. Nov 2024 is now ~13–14 months, which meets your 12–18 month screen and is moving toward the ~18-month next-round window—making a Series C, strategic growth minority, or M&A plausible if growth targets require fresh capital.
Use Dakota’s Sponsor Backed Company Intelligence to Spot Likely Exits Before the Market Does
Dakota’s private company data gives you a real-time view into thousands of sponsor-backed companies, including platform acquisition dates, funding rounds, parent sponsors, add-on activity, and sector categorization.
Instead of guessing where companies are in their lifecycle, you can instantly identify which ones are approaching the typical timing windows for a sale or recap.
Fully integrated into Dakota Marketplace, this dataset enables deal sourcers, investor relations teams, and allocators to anticipate transactions, build targeted outreach lists, and stay ahead of market announcements, every single day.
To explore more companies likely to transact, book a demo of Dakota Marketplace!
