SaaS Due Diligence Checklist: What Investors Want

A due diligence checklist is a structured overview of the documentation and data an investor will request before committing capital. For SaaS companies, this typically spans financials, ARR metrics, customer contracts, legal structure, cap table, IP ownership, and key commercial agreements. Organized so founders know exactly what to prepare.

As early as possible, ideally 12 to 24 months before you expect to raise or run a sale process. The founders who move fastest through due diligence are the ones who treat data room preparation as an ongoing task rather than an emergency sprint when a term sheet arrives.

Investors want to verify that what's in the pitch deck holds up under scrutiny. The key areas are revenue quality (ARR, NRR, churn), customer concentration, contract terms, financial controls, legal structure, and team. Gaps in any of these slow a process down or stop it entirely.

A virtual data room (VDR) is a secure, organized digital repository where founders share confidential documentation with investors during a due diligence process. Keeping a data room consistently updated, not just when a process starts, means you're always ready when the right investor shows interest.

The core categories apply broadly, but the depth of documentation expected scales with deal size. An early growth investment at €2–3M ARR will involve less scrutiny than a larger transaction. Viking Growth invests in Nordic B2B SaaS companies with €2–15M ARR, so this checklist reflects what we look for at that stage.