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. Apptronik
Apptronik is a robotics company specializing in the development of general-purpose humanoid robots designed to perform tasks traditionally handled by humans. Their flagship product, Apollo, is engineered for applications such as case picking, downstacking, trailer unloading, palletizing, sortation, and heavy lifting, aiming to address labor shortages, enhance job satisfaction by automating undesirable tasks, and improve operational efficiency across various industries.
- Sector: Industrials
- Industry: Machinery
- Last known transaction date: Series A totaling $403M (initial $350M announced February 2025; $53M extension closed March 18, 2025)
- Major sponsors/backers: Co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from GV (Google Ventures).
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Apptronik’s $403M Series A, announced in February 2025 and expanded in March 2025, places the company roughly 12–18 months removed from a large initial growth round by mid to late 2026. At this stage, venture-backed robotics platforms raising at significant scale often begin exploring strategic partnerships, follow-on capital, or acquisition interest, as commercialization efforts accelerate and long-term positioning within industrial automation and robotics becomes clearer.
2. Disputed.ai
Disputed.ai is a private company specializing in leveraging artificial intelligence to assist enterprises in managing chargebacks. The company is headquartered in Washougal, Washington, United States, and operates within the financial services and fintech sectors. Disputed.ai offers AI-driven solutions designed to streamline the chargeback process, aiming to reduce financial losses and enhance operational efficiency for businesses.
- Sector: Financials
- Industry: Consumer Finance
- Last known transaction date: Seed, $1.12M announced in March 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Not disclosed
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Disputed.ai’s $1.12M seed round announced in March 2025 places the company approximately 12–18 months removed from its initial financing by mid to late 2026. At this stage, venture-backed AI platforms often begin evaluating follow-on capital, strategic partnerships, or early acquisition interest, as product validation, early customer use cases, and commercial traction continue to develop.
3. Harmony Intelligence
Harmony Intelligence is a cybersecurity startup specializing in AI-powered automated penetration testing to identify and address system vulnerabilities. Founded by Soroush Pour and Alex Browne, the company is headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Their mission is to develop advanced cybersecurity solutions that proactively detect and mitigate AI-driven cyber threats, ensuring robust protection for organizations in an increasingly digital landscape.
- Sector: Technology
- Industry: Cybersecurity / AI Security
- Last known funding round: Seed, $3M, announced March 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Airtreel with participation from First Row Partners and Maxwell Capital.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Harmony Intelligence’s $3M seed round announced in March 2025 places the company approximately 12–18 months removed from its initial financing by mid to late 2026. At this stage, venture-backed cybersecurity and AI security platforms often begin preparing for a follow-on growth round, strategic partnerships, or early acquisition discussions, as technical validation, early deployments, and commercial momentum continue to build.
4. Cambium Carbon
Cambium Carbon is a sustainable materials and supply chain technology company focused on transforming underutilized and waste wood into high-value building materials. Through its vertically integrated platform and proprietary Tracee® supply chain operating system, Cambium connects tree care services, sawmills, manufacturers, and builders to create traceable, lower-carbon wood products marketed as Carbon Smart™ Wood, including applications in mass timber and the built environment.
- Sector: Energy
- Industry: Sustainable Materials
- Last known funding round: Series A, $18.5M, announced February 2025
- Major sponsors/backers:
- Lead: VoLo Earth Ventures
- Participants: NEA, Dangerous Ventures, Tunitas Ventures, Woven Earth, Understory, Groundswell, Ulu Ventures
- Existing investors participating: MaC Venture Capital, Rise of the Rest, 81 Collection, Alumni Ventures, Soma Capital
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Cambium’s $18.5M Series A announced in February 2025 places the company approximately 12–18 months removed from its first institutional growth round by mid to late 2026. At this stage, venture-backed climate and sustainable materials platforms expanding into scaled physical supply chains, such as mass timber, often begin exploring follow-on growth capital, strategic partnerships with construction, materials, or infrastructure players, or targeted acquisitions to deepen logistics, sourcing, or manufacturing capabilities as commercial adoption accelerates.
5. EvidenceHunt
EvidenceHunt is a medical data analytics and AI-powered research platform designed to help healthcare professionals, researchers, and institutions quickly identify, evaluate, and synthesize medical evidence. The platform uses scientifically validated automation to rank and filter clinical studies, guidelines, and internal research, significantly reducing the time required to answer complex medical and clinical questions. EvidenceHunt has accrued approximately 25,000 users in 18 months and is trusted by professionals across more than 250 institutions.
- Sector: Health Care
- Industry: Health Care Technology / Medical Data Analytics
- Last known funding round: Seed, €1.2M (≈$1.3M USD), announced February 2025
- Major sponsors/backers: Not publicly disclosed
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: EvidenceHunt’s €1.2M (≈$1.3M) seed round announced in February 2025 places the company approximately 12–18 months removed from its initial institutional financing by mid to late 2026. At this stage, venture-backed health data and clinical intelligence platforms with demonstrated user traction and institutional adoption often begin preparing for a follow-on growth round, strategic partnerships with healthcare systems, research organizations, or life sciences companies, or early acquisition discussions as commercialization pathways and enterprise use cases continue to solidify.
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!
