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. CyrusOne
CyrusOne is a global data center operator specializing in providing colocation services to enterprises across various industries, including retail, healthcare, technology, and energy. The company offers scalable and secure data center solutions tailored to meet the evolving IT needs of its clients.
- Sector: Real Estate
- Industry: Specialized REITs
- Last known transaction date: March 2022 with majority investment from KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners
- Major sponsors/backers: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: KKR and GIP closed the CyrusOne LBO in late March 2022, so by early–mid 2026 the sponsors will be about four years into ownership—right at the standard 4-year private-equity hold mark for large platforms. During this period, cloud and AI workloads have materially increased demand and valuations for hyperscale data-center portfolios, and peers have already been recapitalizing or selling stakes into infrastructure and sovereign funds. On timing alone, CyrusOne is entering the window where a sponsor-to-sponsor sale, partial stake sale to an infrastructure LP, or re-IPO would be typical as KKR and GIP crystallize returns on a now-matured asset base.
2. QTS Realty Trust
QTS Realty Trust is a leading provider of data center solutions, offering secure and compliant infrastructure services to hyperscale technology companies, enterprises, and government entities across North America and Europe. The company operates over 9 million square feet of mega-scale data center space, delivering robust connectivity and premium customer service through its software-defined technology platform.
- Sector: Real Estate
- Industry: Specialized REITs
- Last known transaction date: August 2021 with majority investment from Blackstone
- Major sponsors/backers: Blackstone Group Inc.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Blackstone’s acquisition of QTS closed on August 31, 2021, which puts the current hold period at just over four years by late 2025, right in the classic 4-year private-equity monetization window for a scaled platform. Over that period, structural demand for data center capacity has accelerated further due to cloud and now AI-driven workloads, pushing up valuations for large, de-listed data center portfolios. Given: (i) QTS’s size and global footprint in high-demand edge and hyperscale markets, (ii) the elapsed ~4+ years since the 2021 take-private, and (iii) the strong exit market evidenced by recent mega-deals in the data center space, QTS is a logical candidate for a near-term sponsor outcome, such as a partial stake sale to infrastructure/sovereign investors, a sponsor-to-sponsor recap, or a re-IPO, to crystalize Blackstone’s returns in line with the 4-year PE hold-period rule.
3. WheeKeep
WheeKeep is a Saudi-based company specializing in portable storage solutions, offering convenient, secure, and affordable storage options for both personal and business needs across Saudi Arabia.
- Sector: Real Estate
- Industry: Specialized REITs
- Last known funding round: Series A, SAR 30M ($8M), announced May 2024.
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by FinTech Collective
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: The Series A closed in May 2024. Under a typical A→B clock of ~18 months, WheeKeep would be approaching or just past the expected timing for a Series B by late 2025. With the round already ~18–19 months old and the capital explicitly earmarked for expansion of its self-storage/logistics footprint in Saudi Arabia and abroad, the company is likely to either: raise a growth/Series B to fund the next leg of network build-out, or consider a strategic minority sale to a larger logistics or self-storage platform seeking exposure to the Gulf market. That puts it squarely in the “round is aging toward the end of the 18-month window” category the rules flag as primed for an upcoming financing or strategic transaction.
4. Simple Homes
Simply Homes is a real estate investment technology company founded in 2020, headquartered in Portland, Maine. The company leverages a machine learning-powered automated underwriting platform to identify, value, and acquire outdated homes, primarily those eligible for HUD's Housing Choice Voucher program. By offering a streamlined process, Simply Homes enables homeowners to sell their properties as-is, without the need for repairs or cleanup, and without incurring fees.
- Sector: Real Estate
- Industry: Real Estate Management & Development
- Last known funding round: Series A, $22M, announced December 2023.
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Gutter Capital and Watchung Capital, with participation from Village Global, Ambush Capital, RavenOne Ventures, Neil Parikh, Gabe Flateman, Luke Sherwin, and others
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: By late 2025, Simply Homes’ December 2023 round is roughly 24 months old. For an A→B or B→C stage company where the nominal clock is ~18 months to the next round, a 2-year gap suggests they are at or slightly beyond the usual fundraising horizon. Given that the 2023 capital was meant to ramp up acquisitions of SFR homes in Midwestern markets and scale its AI-driven sourcing platform in a sector (affordable SFR) that remains capacity-constrained, the company will either need additional growth capital or a strategic partner to keep growing its portfolio. That “aging” 24-month round in an asset-heavy, capital-intensive SFR strategy makes Simply Homes a plausible near-term candidate for a sizable Series B/Series C raise, a programmatic JV with an institutional real-estate investor, or even a minority recap by an infrastructure/impact fund.
5. Pronto Housing
Pronto Housing is a New York-based company founded in 2020 that offers software solutions designed to streamline affordable housing compliance processes. Their platform enables property owners and renters to efficiently manage leasing and annual compliance for various affordable housing programs, thereby reducing costs and improving operational efficiency.
- Sector: Real Estate
- Industry: Real Estate Management & Development
- Last known funding round: Pre-Series A, $3M, announced in February 2024.
- Major sponsors/backers: Infinity Capital Partners, MRK Partners, ICON National
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Pronto’s pre-Series A round in early 2024 is roughly 20–21 months old by late 2025. For a seed/pre-A company, that’s at or just beyond the typical 18-month runway to a proper Series A. The company operates in a policy-driven but structurally undersupplied niche, streamlining compliance for U.S. affordable-housing programs, which has been drawing increasing interest from both impact-oriented VCs and strategic real-estate owners. With its last round now aging and its product already adopted by multiple affordable-housing owners and agencies, Pronto is a strong candidate to seek a larger Series A (or strategic minority investment from a major affordable-housing owner) to scale sales, deepen integrations with property-management systems, and expand to more programs and jurisdictions, exactly the situation your stage-clock rules are meant to flag as “likely to transact soon.”
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.
