During due diligence of M&A transactions, companies provide sensitive information to buyers and advisors through secure virtual spaces called investor data rooms. These rooms are typically monitored and secured to ensure that sensitive information does not get into the wrong hands. The top providers of virtual data rooms offer ready-to-use due diligence checklists to streamline the collection process and ensure that all relevant documents are carefully gathered.
Documents to include in your investor data room can depend on the particular situation and the transaction, however certain documents are necessary for every data room:
Legal Information: This includes articles that incorporate intellectual property registrations and employee stock agreements. The cap table is included, which lists ownership helpful hints percentages and stakes in your company. Founders may also decide to include prior updates to investors, which show investors that they are serious about investor communication and transparency.
Financial Information This includes historical financial statements and financial statements projected for the future and the assumptions, sources and the reasoning behind these projections. Founders can include their business plan as well as a product roadmap here as well.
Founders can choose to break the investor data space into sections, and limit access by granting different user roles. For instance, one section could contain strategy documents and presentation decks for investors in the early stages and the other will include more detailed legal documents aimed at serious investors. This lets them reduce time and effort by only sharing documents that they require, and also gives them greater control over the sensitive documents shared.
