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. Proofpoint
Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Founded in 2002 by Eric Hahn and Nitin Desai, the company specializes in providing cloud-based solutions to protect organizations from advanced threats, safeguard data, and enhance user resilience against cyberattacks. Proofpoint's product suite includes email security, data loss prevention, electronic discovery, and email archiving. The company serves a diverse clientele, including over 3,000 enterprise-level accounts such as global enterprises, universities, and government agencies.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known transaction date: Acquisition by Thoma Bravo in April 2021.
- Major sponsors/backers: Thoma Bravo
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Thoma Bravo closed the $12.3B take-private in August 2021, so they’re now just over four years into the hold period as of Dec 2025. Large-cap cyber assets have seen strong sponsor-to-sponsor, IPO and strategic exit demand; Proofpoint’s scale and mission-critical positioning in email security makes it a logical IPO or sponsor-to-sponsor candidate once markets are receptive. Under a ~4-year PE platform hold rule, Proofpoint is squarely in the “exit planning” window, making a recap, partial liquidity event, or public listing a reasonable near-term scenario.
2. Cloudera
Cloudera is a data management and analytics company that provides a hybrid data platform designed to transform complex data into actionable insights. Their platform offers subscriptions, public cloud services, and professional services, enabling organizations to manage vast amounts of data efficiently and securely.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: IT Services
- Last known transaction date: February 2021 by Vitruvian Partners
- Major sponsors/backers: Vitruvian Partners acquired a majority stake with Apax Partners remaining minority shareholder
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: The take-private closed in October 2021, so PE ownership is now a bit over four years. Cloudera sits in a high-demand enterprise data & analytics segment that’s strategically important for hyperscalers, large software platforms, and data infrastructure consolidators. Given the size of the original check and current market receptivity to AI/data infrastructure stories, sponsors are likely evaluating IPO, strategic sale, or sponsor-to-sponsor recap options—consistent with the ~4-year hold-period rule you specified.
3. beehiiv
Beehiiv is an email newsletter platform founded in 2021, designed to empower creators to produce, monetize, and grow their newsletters. The platform offers advanced customization, superior analytics, and a direct engagement model that allows publishers and advertisers to reduce reliance on lower-quality cookie-based data. Unlike competitors, Beehiiv does not take a share of subscription revenue, providing a more lucrative model for creators.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known funding round: Series B, $33M, announced April 2024.
- Major sponsors/backers: led by NEA (New Enterprise Associates), with participation from Sapphire Sport and existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: As of December 2025, beehiiv’s Series B is roughly 19 months old, right at or just past the ~18-month B→C “clock” you specified. The company has rapidly scaled to around 20,000 active newsletters and 1B+ monthly emails, and it is investing heavily in its ad network and M&A strategy. Given a classic Series B expectation of ~18 months to a growth Series C, the elapsed time (slightly beyond the 12–18 month window) plus strong cohort growth and heavy product and ad-tech investment make it very plausible that beehiiv is preparing either a sizeable Series C, a strategic minority investment from a large media/marketing platform, or potentially a strategic M&A process in the near term.
4. ShopMy
ShopMy is a creator-centric ecosystem that connects brands with influential creators to facilitate seamless partnerships and monetization. The platform offers tools for creating digital shops, managing affiliate links, and building brand relationships, enabling creators to effectively monetize their content.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: IT Services
- Last known funding round: Series B, $77.5M, announced January 2025.
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Menlo Ventures, Inspired Capital, and AlleyCorp
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: ShopMy’s Series B closed around December 2024, putting it at roughly 12 months seasoned as of December 2025, the front edge of your 12–18 month “time since last round” band, and early in the typical ~18-month B→C cycle. The company is scaling quickly as an infrastructure layer for creator-driven affiliate commerce (175k+ creators, 1k+ brand partners, tens of millions in monthly GMV).
5. Gradient AI
Gradient AI is a Boston-based company specializing in AI-driven solutions for the insurance industry, focusing on underwriting, claims management, and business process automation to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known funding round: Series C, $56.1M, announced July 2024.
- Major sponsors/backers: Centana Growth Partners, MassMutual Ventures, Sandbox Industries, Forté Ventures
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: As of Dec 2025, the Series C is ~16 months old, squarely within your 12–18-month “clock window” for the current round. At Series C, typical time to the next round (C→D) is ~24 months; 16 months in means Gradient is well into that cycle and should be thinking about its next capital event in the coming 6–12 months. Gradient has been actively expanding its product suite (e.g., upgraded workers’ comp underwriting risk solutions in April 2025), signaling continued growth investment and the need for additional capital or strategic partners. InsurTech AI (underwriting/claims) is a strategic gap for many large carriers and core systems vendors; Gradient is a logical target for: a large Series D / late-stage round from growth/PE crossover investors, or a strategic minority investment/M&A by a major insurer, reinsurer, or software provider seeking embedded AI.
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 ector 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.
