“I need a data room”— now what?
Your advisor said you need one. Your accelerator mentor said you need one. But nobody told you what goes inside it or how to set it up.
“What even goes in a data room?”
Pitch deck, financials, cap table, incorporation docs — every investor expects something different, and there is no standard checklist.
Documents are everywhere
Your pitch deck is in Google Slides, financials in a spreadsheet, legal docs in email attachments. Pulling it all together is a full-day project.
Enterprise tools cost too much
Legacy data rooms charge hundreds per month. When you are pre-revenue, that is runway you cannot afford to burn on file sharing.
No time to figure it out
You have a product to build, customers to find, and a round to close. Learning complex VDR software is the last thing on your list.
“Every now and then, you come across a product that has a massive positive impact on your business. Peony is one such product.”
Panos Moutafis
Founder & CEO, Zenus
From zero to investor-ready
Peony guides you through every step — what to include, how to organize it, and how to share it professionally.
The folder structure investors expect
Every startup data room needs the same core sections: Financials, Legal, Team, Product, and Cap Table. Peony gives you a ready-made template so you never have to guess what belongs where.
Pitch Deck
Executive summary, problem, solution, market, traction
Financials
Revenue model, projections, burn rate, bank statements
Legal
Certificate of incorporation, bylaws, IP assignments
Cap Table
Ownership breakdown, SAFEs, option pool, vesting schedules
Product
Product roadmap, technical architecture, key metrics
Upload everything — AI sorts it out
Drag and drop your documents from anywhere. Peony's AI reads each file, categorizes it into the right folder, and suggests what is missing. No manual tagging. No folder headaches.
Your brand, not a Google Drive link
Add your logo, brand colors, and a custom cover image. Investors open a polished link page — not a folder of files. First impressions close rounds.
Predictable pricing
Plans from $20/admin/month with no per-viewer, per-page, or per-link limits. Your costs stay flat as your investor list grows.
Drag-and-drop upload
PDF, DOCX, PPTX, spreadsheets — upload any file type. No conversion needed. No file size limits on paid plans.
AI auto-organization
Peony reads your files, names folders intelligently, and flags missing documents so your data room is complete before you share it.
Custom branding
Your logo, your colors, your cover image. Share a link that looks like it was built by a design team, not a file hosting service.
Founders who went from zero to investor-ready
Robi Lin
Founder & CEO, Sepal AI (YC S24)
Peony is easily the best form factor for sharing client-facing material. At this point, I love hearing, “Does Sepal AI have a sales deck?”
Anish Bharadwaj
Founder & CEO, KiwiQ
Peony is a great example of a customer-obsessed company with a fantastic sense of design and UX. We moved on from Docsend in the first week — what we are really excited about is what all Peony does next.
Frequently asked questions
What should a seed-stage founder include in a startup data room for investor diligence?
At seed stage, investors typically expect your pitch deck, financial model with burn rate and runway, cap table, certificate of incorporation, IP assignment agreements, and a product roadmap or demo. Peony's AI auto-organization sorts your uploads into the folder structure seed investors expect, and the due diligence checklist tracks which documents are uploaded versus missing — so nothing slips through before a partner meeting.
How much does a startup data room cost compared to DocSend or Google Drive?
Google Drive has no analytics, watermarks, or NDA gating — so investors can forward your cap table to anyone. DocSend charges $45/user/month for basic tracking with limited security. Peony gives startups investor-grade features — page-level analytics, AI auto-indexing, branded data rooms — with predictable pricing at $20/admin/month (Pro) and $40/admin/month (Business). No per-viewer, per-page, or per-link limits, so your costs stay flat whether you share with 10 angels or 50 institutional VCs.
How quickly can a founder set up a data room before a partner meeting?
Peony's median setup time is 4 minutes 19 seconds from account creation to first document upload. Upload your documents, and Peony's AI auto-organizes them into the folder structure investors expect. You can share a secure, branded link before your partner meeting even starts. Unlike Firmex or Digify, which require onboarding calls and weeks of manual configuration, Peony is ready the moment you sign up.
Can VCs access a startup data room without creating an account or downloading an app?
Yes. Peony generates secure, personalized links for each VC — no login, no account creation, and no app download required on their end. Investors simply click and view in their browser. You can layer on password protection, NDA gating, or link expiry for extra control. Every view is tracked with Peony's page-level analytics so you know exactly which pages each investor reviewed and for how long.
Is a data room better than Google Drive or Dropbox for fundraising?
Google Drive and Dropbox lack investor-grade security features like screenshot protection, dynamic watermarks, and page-level analytics. Peony gives you all three plus AI-powered Q&A, NDA gating, and custom branding — all backed by AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit on SOC 2-ready infrastructure. Peony is GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliant. Investors see a polished, enterprise-grade experience, not a folder of files.
How is Peony different from DocSend for startups?
Peony is the data room DocSend users graduate to. While DocSend handles single-document sharing, Peony supports full data rooms with folder structures, AI-powered document chat, screenshot protection, dynamic watermarks, and granular permissions. The Business plan ($40/admin/month) includes all advanced security and AI features — not upsold as add-ons.
Can I track which investors viewed my pitch deck?
Peony provides page-level analytics showing exactly which pages each investor viewed, how long they spent on each page, and whether they downloaded anything. This helps you prioritize follow-ups with engaged investors and refine your deck based on real viewing patterns.
Do I need a data room for pre-seed or seed fundraising?
Yes — investors at every stage expect organized due diligence materials. Peony makes it easy for first-time founders with AI auto-organization, pre-built templates, and due diligence checklists that track which documents are uploaded versus missing. Setting up a professional data room signals seriousness and saves time during diligence — and Peony is ready in under 5 minutes.