Data rooms for e-commerce and DTC startups.
E-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands are judged on repeat purchase, contribution margin after ads and returns, and inventory discipline. Give investors and buyers read-only exports from the store, marketplace and ad platforms, cohort and margin analysis, inventory and supplier records, 3PL contracts and your sales tax position.
E-commerce and DTC room
- 01 Corporate
- 02 Sales data
- 03 Cohorts
- 04 Margin
- 05 Marketing
- 06 Inventory
- 07 Suppliers and fulfilment
How it works for a startup.
Buyers of e-commerce businesses, from venture funds to brand aggregators and strategic acquirers, rebuild the numbers from source systems. They look at orders by customer cohort, average order value, repeat rate, return rate and marketing spend by channel, then calculate contribution margin per order after product, shipping, fulfilment, payment fees and ads.
Inventory and suppliers carry much of the risk. Reviewers want stock by SKU and age, purchase commitments, supplier contracts and product compliance, such as California Proposition 65 warnings where relevant. Amazon sellers add account health records and any listing suspensions.
Since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require remote sellers to collect sales tax once they pass economic thresholds. A nexus study showing where the business is registered and where it should be is a standard request.
Top 10 data rooms for this job.
Our five measures, re-weighted for e-commerce and dtc. Places 11 to 17 are listed below the cards.
- Setup speed 24%
- Investor experience 16%
- Access control 20%
- Diligence tools 21%
- Startup pricing 20%
- 1 9.3/10First-rate
- $149 monthly
- 14-day free trial
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- NDA e-signing
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- SOC 2 (hosting)
- 2 8.3/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Free trial offered
- 9/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
- 3 8.2/10Strong pick
- $250 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- NDA e-signing
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- SOC 2
- 4 8.1/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Demo, no trial
- 10/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
- 5 8.1/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Free trial offered
- 7/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- 6 8.1/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Free trial offered
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- 7 7.9/10Strong pick
- $299 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 7/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- 8 7.8/10Strong pick
- $55 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 9/12 feature checks
- NDA e-signing
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- HIPAA
- 9 7.7/10Good option
- Quote only
- Demo, no trial
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
- 10 7.5/10Good option
- Quote only
- Demo, no trial
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
Show places 11 to 17
- DealRoom 7.5
- SmartRoom 7.4
- Onehub 7.3
- ShareVault 7.1
- Digify 7.0
- DocSend 6.8
- Venue by DFIN 6.5
Folder index.
A starting structure for this room. Rename folders to fit your company and keep the numbers.
Charter, cap table, financing documents, trademark registrations.
Store and marketplace order exports, revenue by channel and month.
Repeat purchase and revenue by first-order cohort, subscription retention if any.
Contribution margin per order by channel, return rates, discounting.
Ad spend and results by platform, CAC by channel, attribution method.
Stock by SKU and age, write-offs, purchase orders and commitments.
Supplier agreements, 3PL contracts, freight terms, tariff exposure.
Testing reports, labelling, Prop 65 analysis, recalls if any.
Sales tax nexus study, registrations, marketplace facilitator handling.
Amazon account health, policy notices, brand registry.
Need every file by stage? Use the startup data room checklist.
Must-have features.
| Provider | Bulk folder upload | Investor Q&A | Viewer activity log | AI assistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellty | ||||
| iDeals | ||||
| SecureDocs | ||||
| Datasite | ||||
| Firmex | ||||
| Ansarada | ||||
| CapLinked | ||||
| Citrix ShareFile | ||||
| Drooms | ||||
| Intralinks |
- Bulk folder upload
- Drag a whole folder tree in at once and keep its numbering.
- Investor Q&A
- Funds and buyers ask questions against a file; you assign, answer and publish replies, and the thread stays on record.
- Viewer activity log
- Shows which investor opened which file, for how long and when, and exports the record.
- AI assistance
- Vendor-listed help such as auto-filing, document summaries, search across files or drafted answers.
Set up the room in 6 steps.
- 1
Export from the source
Pull orders, ad results and payouts from each platform rather than building summaries by hand.
- 2
Build contribution margin
Show margin per order after product, shipping, fulfilment, fees, returns and ad spend.
- 3
Show cohorts
Present repeat purchase by first-order month so buyers can see whether new customers stick.
- 4
Clean up inventory
Age your stock and write down slow movers before reviewers find them.
- 5
Run a nexus review
Check where sales cross state thresholds and register where you should.
- 6
Keep exports organised
Name exports by platform and date range so reviewers can rebuild figures without asking.
Common mistakes.
- Gross margin presented without shipping, fees and returns.
- Old inventory carried at full cost.
- Sales tax collected in a few states while thresholds are exceeded in many.
- Ad attribution figures from platforms counted twice across channels.