Top 5 Companies Likely to Transact (May 12, 2026)

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. TensorWave Inc.

TensorWave Inc. is a Las Vegas-based AI infrastructure startup specializing in providing scalable, memory-optimized cloud solutions for demanding AI workloads. By leveraging AMD Instinct™ Series GPUs, TensorWave offers high-performance computing resources tailored for AI model training and inference. Their services cater to startups, enterprises, and researchers seeking efficient and cost-effective AI compute solutions.

  • Sector: Information Technology
  • Last known transaction date: Series A Venture, $100M, May 2025
  • Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: A $100M Series A in May 2025 is a very substantial raise for an IT company, typically providing 24–36 months of runway, but at this scale — likely involving significant AI compute infrastructure, hardware procurement, and aggressive talent acquisition — burn rates can be elevated, positioning TensorWave for a Series B raise by late 2026 to mid-2027 as it looks to demonstrate infrastructure deployment milestones, enterprise customer traction, and the revenue scale that large growth-stage investors require to underwrite the next round.

View all private company data in Dakota Marketplace.

2. BrioHR

BrioHR is a comprehensive Human Resource Management System (HRMS) and payroll solution designed to streamline HR processes for businesses across Southeast Asia. Founded in 2018, the company offers a user-friendly platform that automates tasks such as payroll, claims, leave management, and performance analytics, enabling HR teams and business owners to focus on strategic initiatives. BrioHR serves over 1,000 organizations, providing scalable solutions that cater to companies ranging from small enterprises to large corporations.

  • Sector: Information Technology
  • Last known transaction date: Series A Venture, $6.5M, May 2025
  • Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: A $6.5M Series A in May 2025 is a modest raise for an HR technology company, providing a tight runway of 12–18 months given typical product development, sales, and customer success costs — placing BrioHR squarely in the active fundraising window for a Series B by late 2026 as it looks to demonstrate platform adoption, customer retention, and the recurring revenue metrics that growth-stage HR technology investors require.

View all private company data in Dakota Marketplace.

3. Insight Surgery

Insight Surgery is a medical technology company specializing in personalized surgical solutions. Founded in 2015 by Henry Pinchbeck and Paul Fotheringham, the company is headquartered in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with additional facilities in Houston, Texas. Insight Surgery's mission is to enhance surgical precision and patient outcomes by providing rapid, patient-specific surgical guides and models. Their core offerings include virtual surgical planning, customized surgical guides, models, custom implants, and allografts, primarily serving the orthopedic, orthopedic-oncology, cranio-maxillofacial, pediatric, and cardiovascular surgical disciplines. The company operates FDA-cleared and ISO 13485-certified facilities, ensuring high-quality standards in their products and services. Recent developments include the completion of a $2.5 million Series A funding round led by Nodenza Venture Partners in May 2025, aimed at expanding their presence in the U.S. market. This investment is intended to accelerate the adoption of their personalized surgical solutions across U.S. healthcare systems.

  • Sector: Health Care
  • Last known funding round: Series A Venture, $2.5M, May 2025
  • Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: A $2.5M Series A in May 2025 is an exceptionally lean raise for a healthcare company, providing just 12 months or less of runway given the elevated regulatory, clinical, and device development costs in the surgical technology space — suggesting Insight Surgery is very likely already in active fundraising conversations for a follow-on round and could be seeking to close additional capital by mid-2026 before runway constraints become critical.

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4. Nekuda

Nekuda.ai is a New York-based fintech startup specializing in secure payment infrastructure that enables AI and software agents to autonomously process online transactions on behalf of users or businesses. Their primary product, the Agent Wallet, allows agents to collect credit card information and make payments securely, without the need for developers to handle sensitive data. This solution integrates seamlessly with existing payment ecosystems, offering tools such as a Secure Agent Wallet for credential delegation and Agentic Mandates that define transaction rules based on user intent and context. Nekuda.ai is also aligning closely with Visa’s Intelligent Commerce platform, with plans to integrate its agent payment stack into Visa’s infrastructure. This collaboration aims to drive secure, intent-based, high-authority transactions powered by autonomous agents, an area gaining momentum across commerce, productivity, and consumer AI applications.

  • Sector: Information Technology
  • Last known funding round: Seed Venture, $5M, May 2025
  • Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: A $5M seed round in May 2025 provides a lean 12–18 month runway for an IT company, where product development, engineering talent, and early customer acquisition costs drive steady burn — placing Nekuda in the active fundraising window for a Series A by late 2026 as it looks to convert seed-stage product development into the customer traction, revenue signals, and growth metrics that institutional Series A investors require.

View all private company data in Dakota Marketplace.

5. Kickscale

Kickscale is an Austrian B2B SaaS startup founded in 2020 by Gerald Zankl, Markus Jenul, and Herwig Gangl. The company specializes in AI-powered revenue intelligence, offering a platform that captures, analyzes, and organizes sales and customer conversations to provide actionable insights. Their mission is to enhance sales team performance by automating administrative tasks and delivering data-driven coaching. The platform is tailored for European small and medium-sized enterprises, emphasizing data privacy and multilingual support. Key products include conversation analysis, CRM automation, and sales coaching tools. The leadership team comprises CEO Gerald Zankl, CMO Markus Jenul, CFO Herwig Gangl, and CTO Fabian Riedlsperger. Recent developments include a €2.1 million funding round in May 2025 to accelerate product innovation and market expansion.

  • Sector: Information Technology
  • Last known funding round: Seed Venture, $2.3M, May 2025
  • Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: A $2.3M seed round in May 2025 represents a very lean capital base for an IT company, providing just 12 months or less of runway given typical engineering and go-to-market costs — suggesting Kickscale is very likely already in active fundraising conversations for a pre-Series A or Series A and could be seeking to close a round by mid-2026 before runway constraints become critical.

View all private company data in Dakota Marketplace.

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!

Cate Costin, Marketing Associate

Written By: Cate Costin, Marketing Associate