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. Mitico
Mitico is a technology company specializing in carbon capture solutions aimed at reducing industrial carbon dioxide emissions. Their proprietary granulated metal carbonate sorption technology captures over 95% of CO₂ from post-combustion point sources, including gas-fired power plants and industrial facilities, enabling industries to achieve carbon neutrality cost-effectively.
- Sector: Industrials
- Industry: Commercial Services & Supplies
- Last known transaction date: Seed, $4.3M, announced in February 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Exergon, with participation from Gore Ventures, AP Ventures, Halliburton Labs, SOSV, Freeflow Ventures, SoCal Alliance for Innovation, and Deepbright Ventures.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: With a seed round completed in February 2025, Mitico is moving into the typical 12–18 month post-raise window when early-stage industrial and commercial services companies begin evaluating next-step capital. As customer traction, repeatable revenue, and operating metrics take shape, this period often aligns with a Series A raise, seed extension, or strategic minority investment from partners looking to engage early.
2. Needle
Needle is an AI-powered platform that enables organizations to securely leverage AI capabilities while maintaining data control. Founded by Onur Eken and Jan Heimes, the company aims to transform how organizations implement and leverage AI in their workflows. Needle's platform provides a unified search layer that can seamlessly access and understand data regardless of its source or structure, allowing users to connect existing tools such as Confluence, Slack, Gmail, and Dropbox to Needle’s platform, which then indexes their data, making it instantly searchable and accessible. Through a web interface or API, users can retrieve answers and insights, automate workflows, and build powerful context-aware AI agents, all without deep technical expertise. The platform’s agentic retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology gives direct, clear answers and provides users with reliable information to boost productivity. Needle makes implementing RAG technology in an agent framework, which can be a daunting challenge requiring time, expertise, and resources, easy. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and Berlin.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known transaction date: Seed, $2.2M announced in March 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by 468 Capital and Presight Capital
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: With a seed round completed in March 2025, Needle is entering the common 12–18 month window when early-stage software companies begin evaluating follow-on capital. As product development, early customer adoption, and initial revenue signals become clearer, this stage often lines up with a seed extension, Series A raise, or strategic minority investment to support continued growth.
3. SkyMirr
SkyMirr specializes in advanced radio frequency (RF) solutions, focusing on custom antenna designs and system-level RF consulting. Their mission is to assist innovators in developing smarter, more connected products efficiently. The company offers a range of products, including embedded 5G modules, asset tracker modules, and rugged IoT devices, catering to various applications such as surveillance and industrial sectors. Their engineering team emphasizes rapid development, precision in solving signal challenges, and reducing time-to-market while enhancing product performance. SkyMirr's holistic approach considers system architecture, encompassing board layout, enclosure design, signal isolation, and power efficiency, ensuring robust and market-ready wireless products.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Communications Equipment
- Last known funding round: Series A, $7.3M, announced February 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Solyco Capital
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: After completing a Series A in February 2025, SkyMirr is entering the typical 18–24 month window when communications equipment companies begin planning their next financing. As product validation, customer deployments, and scaling requirements become clearer, this stage often aligns with a Series B raise or a strategic investment from industry partners.
4. Just Move In
Just Move In is a UK-based home setup service founded in 2015 by Ross Nichols and Tom Old. The company simplifies the moving process by managing administrative tasks such as setting up energy suppliers, arranging removals, and notifying local authorities, thereby reducing the stress associated with moving homes.
- Sector: Real Estate
- Industry: Consumer Services / Real Estate Services
- Last known funding round: Series A, $8M, announced February 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Eos Venture Partners, with participation from Wayra, Second Century Ventures, and others
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: With a Series A completed in February 2025, Just Move In is approaching the common 18–24 month window when real estate management and services platforms begin evaluating follow-on capital. As customer adoption, revenue consistency, and operational scalability become clearer, this period often aligns with a Series B raise or a strategic minority investment to support expansion and broader market penetration.
5. Vermillio AI
Vermillio AI is an artificial intelligence platform founded in 2019 by Dan Neely, Maria Richer, and Ryan McHale. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company focuses on providing content creators with tools to style, own, and track their digital creations. Utilizing generative AI and proprietary content identification and rights-management technology, Vermillio AI authenticates content and determines ownership, ensuring creators maintain control and receive fair credit and compensation for their work. The company's mission is to empower creators by offering innovative solutions that protect their digital assets and enhance their creative processes. Vermillio AI has been recognized for its contributions to the AI and content creation industries, including being named to TIME's 100 Most Influential Companies list in June 2025. Recent developments include a partnership with WME in January 2024 to combat AI-generated deepfakes and a $16 million Series A funding round in March 2025, led by Sony Music Entertainment and DNS Capital.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Application Software / AI Content Rights & Licensing
- Last known funding round: Series A, $16M, announced March 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Sony Music Entertainment, DNS Capital
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: After raising a $16M Series A in March 2025, Vermillio AI is entering the typical 18–24 month post-raise window when software companies begin planning their next capital event. As product adoption, revenue traction, and enterprise use cases mature, this period often aligns with a Series B raise or a strategic minority investment to support scaling, product expansion, and go-to-market acceleration.
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!
