Data rooms for fintech startups.
Fintech diligence asks whether the business is licensed or partnered correctly to do what it does, whether compliance programs work and whether the economics hold up after losses and fees. Prepare licences or the bank partner structure, the BSA/AML program, regulator and bank exam correspondence, security attestations, loss and fraud data and partner agreements.
Fintech room
- 01 Corporate
- 02 Licences
- 03 Bank partners
- 04 Compliance program
- 05 Regulators
- 06 Security
- 07 Credit and fraud
How it works for a startup.
US fintechs usually either hold licences themselves, such as state money transmitter or lending licences tracked through NMLS, or work through a sponsor bank that holds the charter. Bank partner agreements set fees, responsibilities and termination rights, and the bank's oversight findings can change the business overnight. Investors read those agreements and any consent orders affecting the partner bank.
Compliance is a core asset, not overhead. Reviewers test the BSA/AML program, KYC procedures, sanctions screening, complaint handling, and consumer protection rules such as those enforced by the CFPB and state regulators. Card businesses add PCI DSS compliance.
Lending and payments startups also face credit and fraud questions. Loss curves by cohort, chargebacks, funding facilities and the terms of warehouse lines are often the deepest part of the room.
Top 10 data rooms for this job.
Our five measures, re-weighted for fintech. Places 11 to 17 are listed below the cards.
- Setup speed 20%
- Investor experience 16%
- Access control 29%
- Diligence tools 21%
- Startup pricing 14%
- 1 9.2/10First-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 8.2/10Strong 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
- 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
- 4 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
- 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 8.0/10Strong pick
- 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
- 7 7.9/10Strong 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
- 8 7.8/10Strong pick
- 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
- 9 7.7/10Good option
- $299 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 7/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- 10 7.7/10Good option
- Quote only
- Demo, no trial
- 7/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
Show places 11 to 17
- Citrix ShareFile 7.7
- DealRoom 7.5
- ShareVault 7.2
- Onehub 7.0
- Venue by DFIN 6.8
- Digify 6.7
- DocSend 6.4
Folder index.
A starting structure for this room. Rename folders to fit your company and keep the numbers.
Charter, cap table, financing documents, entity chart.
State licences, NMLS records, FinCEN MSB registration, surety bonds.
Sponsor bank and program agreements, oversight reports, fee schedules.
BSA/AML policy, KYC and sanctions procedures, independent testing, complaints log.
Exam reports, regulator correspondence, consent orders if any.
SOC 2 report, PCI DSS attestation of compliance, pen test summary.
Loss curves by cohort, fraud and chargeback rates, underwriting policy.
Warehouse facilities, forward flow agreements, covenants.
Processor, card network program, data provider and distribution agreements.
Revenue by stream, interchange and fee income, unit economics.
Need every file by stage? Use the startup data room checklist.
Must-have features.
| Provider | Two-step login | View-only and download control | Viewer activity log | Dynamic watermarks | In-app redaction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellty | |||||
| iDeals | |||||
| Datasite | |||||
| Ansarada | |||||
| Firmex | |||||
| Intralinks | |||||
| SecureDocs | |||||
| Drooms | |||||
| CapLinked | |||||
| SmartRoom |
- Two-step login
- Every login needs a one-time code or an app approval as well as the password.
- View-only and download control
- Set each file to view only, print or download, and change it later without resending anything.
- Viewer activity log
- Shows which investor opened which file, for how long and when, and exports the record.
- Dynamic watermarks
- Stamps the viewer email and the time across every page, so a forwarded screenshot points back to its source.
- In-app redaction
- Blacks out salaries, customer names or personal data inside the platform without keeping a second copy.
Set up the room in 6 steps.
- 1
Draw the regulatory map
One chart showing which entity holds which licence, which bank partner does what and where money moves.
- 2
Collect bank partner records
File program agreements, amendments, oversight findings and how each finding was closed.
- 3
Show the compliance program working
Include independent AML testing, metrics on alerts and SARs process (without SAR content), and complaint trends.
- 4
Present losses by cohort
Share loss and fraud data by origination cohort, not only blended rates.
- 5
Lock down regulator files
Restrict exam reports and regulator letters to named reviewers with view-only access. Check what bank confidentiality rules allow you to share.
- 6
Log every answer
Use Q&A so compliance answers are consistent across investors and recorded.
Common mistakes.
- Operating in states without the licence the activity requires.
- A bank partner agreement with short termination notice and no backup bank.
- Sharing confidential supervisory information without checking whether it is allowed.
- Blended loss rates that hide worsening recent cohorts.