The complete Series B due diligence checklist for Deep Tech startups. Prepare your data room, anticipate every investor request, and close your round faster.
6–12 weeks
Typical DD Timeline
5
DD Categories Covered
50+
Checklist Items Total
Deep tech DD often involves national security and export control review. If you work with DoD or have ITAR-controlled technology, investors will engage specialized legal counsel before closing.
Documents to have ready before DD begins
Institutional-grade legal DD covering corporate governance, regulatory risk, key contract change-of-control provisions, and cross-border compliance. Full rep and warranty review.
Audited financial statements (typically required). Revenue quality review by Big 4 accounting firm. Deep customer cohort and retention analysis. Cap table fully modeled through exit scenarios.
Executive team professional background investigations. Non-compete and non-solicitation enforceability analysis. Board composition governance review.
Deep Tech Series B due diligence typically takes 6–12 weeks. Institutional-grade legal DD covering corporate governance, regulatory risk, key contract change-of-control provisions, and cross-border compliance. Full rep and warranty review. Having a complete data room ready before DD kicks off can reduce this timeline by 30–50%.
For Deep Tech at the Series B stage, investors focus heavily on: Patent application status, claims breadth, and FTO opinion, Government contract SBIR/STTR IP ownership provisions, and Grant funding pipeline and milestone-based payment structure, SBIR/STTR Phase I, II, and III history and transition rate. Deep tech DD often involves national security and export control review. If you work with DoD or have ITAR-controlled technology, investors will engage specialized legal counsel before closing.
Your Series B data room should include: 3 years of audited financial statements; Full customer list with contract terms and renewal dates; Complete IP portfolio with FTO opinion; All board materials and resolutions; Material subsidiary documentation; Insurance policies (D&O, E&O, cyber); All government filings and regulatory correspondence. Use a structured folder system that mirrors investor expectations — most institutional investors use a standard folder taxonomy.
The five most common DD deal-killers are: (1) undisclosed founder litigation or criminal history, (2) IP ownership gaps — particularly for university-origin technology, (3) customer contract terms that prevent assignment on change of control, (4) cap table math errors or undocumented equity grants, and (5) financial restatements required after revenue recognition review.
Executive team professional background investigations. Non-compete and non-solicitation enforceability analysis. Board composition governance review.
Get the Deep Tech Series B due diligence checklist as a Google Sheets or Notion template. Track completion status for every item in your data room.
Includes data room folder template, investor question tracker, and reference FAQ guide