What is due diligence?
Due diligence is the structured investigation a buyer, investor or lender runs before a deal, checking a company's finances, contracts, legal standing and risks against what has been claimed.
Due diligence is the homework phase of a transaction. Before money changes hands in a fundraise, acquisition or loan, the other side reviews the evidence behind the story: accounts, cap table, key contracts, IP ownership, employment terms, litigation and compliance. The aim is to confirm the business is what it says it is, and to surface anything that changes the price or the terms.
In practice due diligence runs off a request list: the reviewing party asks for documents, the company provides them in a controlled space, and questions go back and forth until the reviewer is satisfied. Because the material is highly confidential and shared with people who may walk away, control over who sees what, and a record of who saw it, matters as much as the documents themselves.
Due diligence is where most deals slow down or fall over, usually because information is disorganised, access is hard to control, or nobody can prove what was disclosed and when. A tracked, access-controlled data room is the standard answer to all three.
In 99 Data Rooms
How it works here.
In 99 Data Rooms you run due diligence in a UK-hosted room: upload the requested documents, share them as tracked links gated by verified email, passcode or NDA acceptance, and see page-by-page who reviewed what. Every view is logged for a defensible disclosure record, and access can be revoked the moment a party drops out.
Common questions
Due diligence, in short.
What documents are needed for due diligence?
Typically financial statements, the cap table, material contracts, IP assignments, employment agreements, corporate records and any litigation or regulatory history. The exact list comes from the reviewing party's due diligence request list.
How long does due diligence take?
It varies with deal size and how well-prepared the company is: a seed round might take days, a mid-market acquisition weeks to months. A well-organised data room with a clear index is the single biggest factor in going faster.
Why use a data room for due diligence?
Because you are sharing confidential material with people who have competing interests, you need per-viewer access control, a complete record of who saw what, and the ability to revoke access instantly. A tracked data room provides all three; email and generic file sharing do not.
Related terms
What is a virtual data room?
A virtual data room (VDR) is a secure online space for sharing sensitive business documents with outside parties, where every viewer is controlled and every view is tracked.
DefinitionWhat is a deal room?
A deal room is a secure online space set up for a single transaction, where the parties to a fundraise, sale or acquisition share confidential documents and run due diligence under controlled access.
DefinitionWhat is an audit trail?
An audit trail is a chronological, tamper-evident record of who did what and when to a document or system - a log you can rely on later to prove exactly what happened.
Try it on a real document. Turn a PDF into a tracked, revocable link in a couple of minutes. Three rooms stay free for as long as you want them, no card required.