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. Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc. is a cloud-based talent management software provider that offers solutions for learning and development, performance management, and workforce planning. Founded in 1999, the company serves over 6,000 customers and 75 million users across 180 countries and 50 languages.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known transaction date: October 21, 2021 with majority investment from Clearlake Capital Group
- Major sponsors/backers: Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (majority investor) alongside Blue Owl Capital.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: As of 2025, Cornerstone is ~4 years post‑buyout, hitting the approximate 4‑year hold‑period when many large or mid‑market PE platforms look to sell, recapitalize, or otherwise realize value. Given strong demand for enterprise workforce management SaaS, market conditions may incentivize a sale or recap.
2. Quest
Quest Software is a global provider of enterprise management software, offering solutions that help organizations manage, modernize, and secure their IT environments across endpoints, on-premises infrastructure, and the cloud. Their product portfolio includes tools for cybersecurity, data management, migration, and modernization, serving a diverse clientele worldwide.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known transaction date: February 2022 with majority investment from Clearlake Capital.
- Major sponsors/backers: Clearlake Capital from Francisco Partners.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: By 2025 the investment is ~3.75–4 years old — i.e. approaching the typical ~4‑year PE hold‑period. Given high demand for cybersecurity and data‑intelligence platforms, Clearlake may push for a sale, recap, or strategic exit to realize value.
3. Acceldata
Acceldata is a leading provider of enterprise data observability solutions, offering a comprehensive platform that enables organizations to monitor, manage, and optimize their data pipelines for reliability, governance, and performance. Their solutions are utilized by global enterprises to ensure data quality and operational excellence.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known funding round: Series C, $50M, announced February 2023 (+$10M extension October 2023).
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by March Capital, with participation from Sanabil Investments, Industry Ventures, and Insight Partners. Extension round led by Prosperity7 Ventures.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: As of 2025, Acceldata is ~30–32 months post‑Series C. Given its growth and shift toward AI-driven “agentic data management,” it is well past the typical ~24‑month Series C → D horizon, implying it may raise a Series D, pursue a strategic minority investment, or become an acquisition target.
4. Silverfort
Silverfort is a cybersecurity company specializing in identity security solutions that extend secure authentication across on-premises and cloud environments without the need for agents, proxies, or code changes. Their platform aims to protect enterprises from data breaches, cyber-attacks, and insider threats by providing risk-based multi-factor authentication for all sensitive users, devices, and resources.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known funding round: Series D, $116B, announced January 2024.
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Brighton Park Capital, with participation from Acrew Capital, Greenfield Partners, Citi Ventures, General Motors Ventures, Maor Investments, Vintage Investment Partners, and Singtel Innov8.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: Silverfort is ~20–22 months post‑Series D. Given typical “late‑stage → next liquidity event” timing (~24 months), it could be targeting a new round, strategic growth investment, or potentially an acquisition or merger. The demand for identity and cloud‑access security remains high, which may accelerate transaction timing.
5. Socket
Socket is a cybersecurity platform founded in 2020 by Feross Aboukhadijeh, a web security lecturer at Stanford University. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and specializes in protecting applications from software supply chain attacks. Socket's platform proactively monitors open-source software components to detect and prevent threats such as malware, backdoors, and obfuscated code. It currently supports six programming languages, including Java and Ruby, and serves over 7,500 organizations worldwide. Notable clients include Figma, Vercel, and Replit. In October 2024, Socket secured $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from investors like OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor, Yahoo Co-Founder Jerry Yang, and Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke. This funding brings the total raised by the company to $65 million since its inception.
- Sector: Information Technology
- Industry: Software
- Last known funding round: Series B, $40 million, announced in October 2024.
- Major sponsors/backers: Led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from Elad Gil, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and angel investors including Bret Taylor, Jerry Yang, and Tobias Lütke.
- Why timing suggests a near-term transaction: As of 2025, Socket is roughly 12–24 months out from its last round, right in the period when many growth‑stage SaaS / cybersecurity startups plan follow‑on financing, strategic minority investment, or position themselves for acquisition.
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.
