Private equity data room — live in 5 minutes.
Peony is a virtual data room (VDR) built for boutique and mid-market PE teams and independent sponsors. Deal screening, buy-side diligence, LP fundraising, portfolio monitoring, exit preparation, and fundless deal execution — full feature parity with legacy VDRs, a more intuitive interface, and AI that actually works. All at $40/user/month — 99% less than Datasite.Set up in under 5 minutes. Start with a free trial.
24/7 dedicated support for enterprise deals
PE deal management is too fragmented
Platform acquisitions, add-on bolt-ons, LP reporting, and exit prep — PE firms juggle dozens of simultaneous workstreams across scattered tools. Sensitive deal data ends up in email threads and shared drives with no audit trail.
Multi-deal chaos
Running platform acquisitions and add-ons simultaneously means separate bidder tracks, management presentations, and lender packages scattered across tools with no central view.
Multi-party complexity
Management teams, lenders, advisors, co-investors, and operating partners each need different document access. Managing permissions manually across deals is error-prone.
Portfolio monitoring gaps
Tracking financials, KPIs, and board materials across 10 to 50 portfolio companies via email and spreadsheets leads to outdated data and missed red flags.
LP fundraising and reporting friction
Sharing PPMs with prospective LPs via email has no tracking, no NDA enforcement, and no way to know who actually read your materials. Post-raise, quarterly LP reports require compiling sensitive fund data and distributing it securely to dozens of LPs with different access rights.
Built for how boutique PE firms actually work
Legacy VDRs like Ideals ($2,000+/month) and Datasite ($5,000+/month) were built for large-cap investment banks, not lean PE teams. Peony gives you the same security — watermarks, NDA gating, audit trails — plus AI-powered Q&A, auto-indexing, and page-level analytics at $40/user/month. Full feature parity, better UX, and AI that actually works.
Screen deals in hours, not weeks
PE firms evaluate dozens of potential acquisitions before committing to one. Peony's AI-powered Q&A lets your deal team interrogate a target's financials, contracts, and legal documents instantly — spot red flags early and kill bad deals fast so you can focus on the winners.
AI-powered Q&A across documents
Ask questions across hundreds of uploaded documents and get sourced answers in seconds. Surface revenue concentration risks, contract change-of-control clauses, or pending litigation without reading every page.
Auto-indexing and smart organization
Documents are automatically categorized and indexed as they are uploaded. No more spending days manually organizing folders — your diligence room is structured and searchable from day one.
Discard bad deals faster
Legacy VDRs like Ideals and Firmex force you to read everything manually. Peony's AI highlights material issues upfront so your team can make a go/no-go decision in days instead of weeks — and move on to the next opportunity.
Run parallel buy-side and sell-side processes from one platform
Manage CIM distribution across multiple bidder tracks, route buyer questions through internal approval workflows, and keep every competing party completely isolated — without spinning up separate tools for each deal.
Bidder-track isolation
Create separate rooms per bidder with independent permissions. Competing buyers never see each other's activity, questions, or access history — eliminating information leaks between parties.
CIM distribution tracking
See which potential buyers opened the confidential information memorandum, which pages they studied, and how long they spent on each section. Prioritize follow-ups based on real engagement.
Secured, channeled Q&A
Route buyer questions through role-based approval workflows before answers are published. Every Q&A thread is permission-controlled per bidder, fully timestamped, and preserved in an immutable audit trail — no side-channel conversations or lost email threads.
Raise capital, monitor portfolio companies, and report to LPs from one hub
Share PPMs and offering materials with prospective LPs through NDA-gated, branded rooms — then track exactly which LPs engaged and which sections they read. After the raise, link every portfolio company's financials, board decks, and operating reports in a single dashboard. Collect monthly metrics with automated reminders, then generate and distribute quarterly LP reports — all without leaving Peony.
LP fundraising rooms
Share PPMs, fund terms, and track records with prospective LPs through branded, NDA-gated rooms. Page-level analytics show which LPs spent time on the financial model versus skimming the summary — so you know who to follow up with first.
Portfolio-wide document hub
One dashboard linking every portfolio company's financial models, board decks, and operating reports. No more chasing files across email threads and shared drives.
LP reporting automation
Generate and distribute quarterly LP reports with individualized cover letters. Track which LPs opened the report, which sections they read, and who needs a follow-up.
Prepare portfolio companies for sale with structured VDD rooms
Assemble vendor due diligence materials months before launch, track what is ready and what is missing, and progressively unlock diligence access as buyers advance through rounds — all from one platform.
VDD room builder
Set up vendor due diligence rooms with pre-built folder structures for financial, legal, tax, and commercial workstreams. Auto-indexing organizes uploaded documents automatically — ready for buyer access in minutes, not weeks.
Buyer access ramp
Start with a teaser, then progressively unlock full diligence materials as buyers advance through rounds. Control exactly what each bidder sees at every stage of the process.
Exit-readiness scoring
Track which VDD documents are uploaded, which are missing, and which need updating before launch. Know exactly how ready your portfolio company is for market.
Run LP elections, secondary buyer diligence, and ILPA-compliant disclosure from one room
GP-led secondaries hit $115 billion in 2025, with continuation vehicles accounting for 89% of that volume (Jefferies, January 2026). A CV is the alternative to fund liquidation — instead of selling assets and distributing proceeds, the GP transfers them to a new vehicle with fresh capital and an extended timeline. Every CV involves multiple stakeholder groups — rolling LPs, cashing-out LPs, secondary buyers, the LPAC, the GP team, legal counsel, and the fund administrator — each requiring different document access, different timelines, and documented proof of fair process. Peony handles the operational complexity that legacy VDRs were never designed for.
LP election management
LPs choose to roll, cash out, or elect status quo terms — and ILPA recommends a minimum 30-day election window. Share election materials, fairness opinions, and CV term sheets through NDA-gated, personalized links — each LP sees only what they are entitled to. Track who has reviewed, who has elected, and who needs follow-up with page-level analytics.
ILPA parity of information
ILPA guidance recommends all existing LPs receive data room access with parity of information to new investors and the LPAC. Peony enforces this with permission groups that ensure every LP sees the same disclosure materials — with timestamped audit trails that demonstrate equal access was provided, satisfying the standard ILPA established in its 2023 guidance and 2026 Disclosure Template.
Conflict-of-interest audit trails
In a CV, the GP is on both sides of the transaction — the highest-scrutiny position in PE. Every document view, Q&A exchange, and permission change in Peony is logged in an immutable, exportable audit trail. Prove to your LPAC, board, and regulators that the process was fair.
Multi-tier stakeholder access
Multiple groups, each with distinct permission levels — rolling LPs see the go-forward business plan and CV terms, cashing-out LPs see the fairness opinion and sale proceeds, secondary buyers see the full diligence package, the LPAC reviews conflict disclosures and the acquisition agreement, and legal counsel sees everything. One room, zero information leaks between parties.
Secondary buyer diligence rooms
Stage disclosure for incoming secondary buyers — start with the teaser, then progressively unlock financials, legal docs, and management presentations as they advance. Track which sections they spent time on so you know their diligence priorities before the next call.
Tight-timeline execution
CV processes run on compressed timelines — GPs simultaneously wind down the legacy position and stand up a new entity. Peony's AI organizes the room in minutes, not weeks, so your team spends time on the deal instead of the data room setup.
Run institutional-quality processes on a lean team
Independent sponsors source, evaluate, and execute deals without a committed fund — raising capital deal-by-deal from co-investors, family offices, and lenders. That means no fund back-office, no dedicated analyst bench, and no budget for a $25,000 data room on every deal you evaluate. Peony gives independent sponsors enterprise-grade deal infrastructure at $40/user/month — spin up a new data room per opportunity in under 5 minutes, share materials with multiple capital partners simultaneously, and project institutional credibility to sellers from day one.
Deal-by-deal data rooms
Independent sponsors evaluate dozens of opportunities before committing to one. At $40/user/month with no per-deal fees, spin up a new data room for every prospective acquisition in under 5 minutes — no sales call, no onboarding, no procurement process. Legacy VDRs charging $25,000+ per room make this workflow economically impossible.
Co-investor and lender coordination
Every deal involves a different capital stack — equity co-investors, mezzanine lenders, senior lenders, and the management team. Create separate permission groups per party so each sees only the documents they need. Track which co-investors are actively reviewing materials and which need follow-up using page-level analytics.
Institutional credibility from a lean team
Sellers and intermediaries judge professionalism from the first interaction. Branded data rooms with your logo, custom cover pages, NDA gating, and dynamic watermarks make a 1 to 3 person team look like a full-service firm. First impressions win proprietary deal flow.
AI-powered screening without an analyst team
Without a dedicated deal team, you are the analyst. Peony's AI-powered Q&A reads every document in the data room so you can surface revenue concentration risks, unusual contract terms, or missing disclosures instantly — make go/no-go decisions in days without hiring a junior analyst for every evaluation.
NDA and LOI workflows built in
Gate access to deal materials behind a signed NDA — fully integrated e-signatures mean sellers, advisors, and co-investors sign before seeing anything. No separate DocuSign subscription, no back-and-forth PDFs.
Know who is serious before the call
Page-level analytics show which co-investors read the financial model cover-to-cover and which skimmed the executive summary. Prioritize your time on the capital partners who are genuinely engaged — critical when you are managing the entire process yourself.
Enterprise-grade security for every deal
PE deals involve the most sensitive financial and operational data in the market. Peony protects it at every layer.
Screenshot protection
Block screen captures of financial models, CIMs, and proprietary deal materials. Prevent unauthorized duplication during competitive processes.
Dynamic watermarks
Trace leaks per bidder with watermarks showing viewer identity and timestamp on every page. Know exactly who shared sensitive deal documents.
NDA-gated access
Require bidders, lenders, and advisors to sign an NDA before accessing any deal documents. Fully integrated e-signatures included.
Instant access revocation
When a bidder drops out or a deal falls through, revoke all document access with one click. No loose ends.
Enterprise encryption
AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit. SOC 2-ready, GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliant infrastructure built for institutional-grade deal security.
Two-factor authentication
Add an extra layer of security for every user accessing your data rooms. Protect against unauthorized logins even if credentials are compromised.
"Peony is a standout for data rooms and gated file sharing — intuitive, secure, and beautifully designed. The AI actually adds value, not just a checkbox feature. Highly recommend."
Michael Hui
Managing Director, Piton Partners
Anthony Gale
Founder & CEO, PromoLens
Not often I make recommendations, but I started using Peony to share presentations etc with external people. It works so well & makes us look really organized. We looked at DocSend etc. but the cost & clunkiness just put us off.
Peony vs legacy VDR providers — feature-by-feature
PE firms typically pay $25,000–$50,000 per data room with legacy VDRs. Peony delivers full feature parity plus AI that actually works at $40/user/month — a 99% cost reduction versus Datasite, with no per-page, per-deal, or storage-based fees.
| Feature | Peony | Datasite | Intralinks | Ideals | Sterling | Firmex | Digify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $40/user/mo | $25,000+/deal | $25,000+/deal | $25,000+/project | $10,000+/deal | $5,000+/project | $500/mo |
| Per-page fees | None | Yes | Yes | None | — | None | None |
| Storage-based fees | None | — | Per-MB | Per-GB | — | — | None |
| Setup time | Under 5 minutes | Days | Days | 30+ minutes | Hours | 20+ minutes | 15+ minutes |
| AI document chat | Included (Business) | Add-on | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Structured Q&A workflows | Included (Business) | Basic | Basic | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Unlimited storage | Unlimited | Limited | Per-MB fees | Per-GB fees | Limited | Limited | Limited |
| Unlimited users | Included | Per-user fees | Per-user fees | Add-on | — | Included | Per-user fees |
| Built-in e-signatures | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Screenshot protection | Included (Screenshield) | Add-on | Not included | Add-on | — | Not included | Included |
| AI file organization | Included | Add-on | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Automatic NDA | Included | Not included | Not included | Add-on | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Dynamic watermarks | Included | Add-on | Not included | Included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Custom domain & branding | Included | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on | Not included | Add-on | Add-on |
| Ease of use (public rating) | 9.4/10 | 7.5/10 | 7.2/10 | 8.7/10 | 7.4/10 | 8.5/10 | 6.9/10 |
| Average user satisfaction | 9.7/10 | 7.5/10 | 7.2/10 | 8.9/10 | 7.3/10 | 8.8/10 | 7.5/10 |
Frequently asked questions
I'm a partner at a lower-middle-market PE fund ($75M AUM) and we're preparing a $60M portfolio exit — what data room should I use?
Your exit deserves enterprise-grade security without the enterprise price tag. Peony Business at $40/admin/month gives your deal team dynamic watermarks, screenshot protection, NDA gating, and page-level analytics to track which buyers are most engaged — the same capabilities Datasite charges $25,000+ per data room for. A 4-person deal team pays $1,920/year on Peony versus $60,000+ on Datasite, a 99% cost reduction. Peony's auto-indexing organizes your CIM, management presentations, and financial models automatically, and you can configure bidder-track permissions per buyer group and share NDA-gated links in under 5 minutes with no onboarding call required.
We're a mid-market PE fund ($350M AUM) running our Fund III LP fundraise with 80+ prospective LPs — how do we track which investors actually read our PPM?
Peony's page-level analytics — available on all plans including Free — show you exactly which prospective LPs opened your PPM, how long they spent on each section, and which pages they returned to. During your Fund III raise, share offering materials through branded, NDA-gated rooms (Business plan, $40/admin/month) so every LP interaction is tracked and your materials look institutional. Datasite charges $60,000+/year for the same workflow. With Peony, your IR team can prioritize follow-ups based on actual engagement data rather than guessing which LPs are interested.
I'm an independent sponsor looking to raise capital for a $35M platform acquisition — I need to share my deal thesis with 15 family offices and co-investors. What's the most cost-effective data room?
As a fundless sponsor raising deal-by-deal, you need a data room for investor outreach now and target diligence later — without paying $25,000+ per room to Datasite each time. Peony Business at $40/admin/month includes unlimited data rooms on one subscription, so you can run your co-investor outreach room and your target diligence room simultaneously for $480/year total. Branded NDA-gated rooms with custom logo and domain (Business plan) project institutional credibility to family offices even without a fund name behind you, and page-level analytics show which co-investors engaged most deeply with your thesis.
We acquired a specialty chemicals business 3 years ago as independent sponsors — now we're preparing the sell-side. How do I set up the data room for exit?
Your sell-side process needs bidder-track isolation, staged document access, and a structured Q&A workflow. Peony's AI rooms (Business plan, $40/admin/month) generate due diligence checklists tailored to your deal type, completeness scoring tracks which documents are uploaded versus missing, and auto-indexing organizes everything so your VDD room is buyer-ready in minutes. Peony's Smart Q&A lets buyers submit questions, AI drafts answers from your documents, your team reviews, and only approved responses go out — keeping your 3-year value creation story controlled. Firmex charges $5,000-$20,000 per project with no AI; Peony gives you the full sell-side workflow at a fraction of the cost.
I'm an operating partner at a PE fund and we're executing 3 bolt-on acquisitions ($10M-$25M each) this quarter — can I manage all of them in one platform?
Peony includes unlimited data rooms on every plan, so you can run separate buy-side diligence rooms for all 3 bolt-on targets simultaneously without per-room fees. At $40/admin/month on the Business plan, your deal team gets AI-powered Q&A across all rooms to surface revenue concentration risks, change-of-control clauses, or missing disclosures without reading every page in every target. Datasite would charge $25,000+ per room for 3 concurrent acquisitions — $75,000+ total versus $480/year per admin on Peony. Page-level analytics on all plans let you track which target management teams are responsive to diligence requests.
Our fund is structuring a $175M continuation vehicle for our best-performing asset — how does Peony handle the LP election process and ILPA compliance?
Every CV involves multiple stakeholder groups — rolling LPs, cashing-out LPs, secondary buyers, the LPAC, and the GP team — each requiring different document access. Peony handles this with multi-tier permission groups, personalized access links per LP, and timestamped audit trails that demonstrate fair process. ILPA guidance recommends parity of information between existing LPs and secondary buyers, and Peony's audit trails document exactly who accessed what and when during the 30-day LP election window. GP-led secondaries hit $115 billion in 2025 with CVs accounting for 89% of that volume (Jefferies, January 2026). Peony manages your full CV workflow — LP elections, secondary buyer staged diligence, fairness opinion distribution, and conflict documentation — at $40/admin/month.
I'm the CFO at a PE fund and I manage quarterly reporting for 45 LPs — is there a better way than emailing PDFs and hoping they read them?
Peony replaces the email-and-pray workflow entirely. Create a dedicated LP reporting room, distribute quarterly reports with individualized access links per LP, and track exactly which LPs opened and read each section using page-level analytics (available on all plans). On the Business plan ($40/admin/month), NDA gating and dynamic watermarks ensure sensitive fund performance data stays protected. Your 45 LPs each get their own personalized link — no shared logins, no version confusion. Datasite charges $60,000+/year for LP reporting infrastructure that Peony delivers for $480/year per admin.
I'm a PE associate and my MD wants a buy-side diligence room set up by tomorrow for a platform investment — how fast can I get this live?
Peony sets up in under 5 minutes with no sales call or onboarding required. Upload your preliminary diligence request list, configure folder structures with AI rooms (Business plan) that auto-generate checklists tailored to your deal type, and share access links to the target management team immediately. Auto-indexing classifies uploaded files with OCR and full-text search so documents are structured and searchable from day one. Legacy VDRs like Ideals and Firmex require onboarding calls and multi-week implementations — Peony gets your diligence room live before your MD's next meeting.
We're a fund-of-funds LP evaluating a GP's data room during fund diligence — what should we look for in their VDR setup?
A GP's data room choice signals operational maturity. Look for page-level analytics (so the GP knows which LPs engage), granular permission controls (so co-investors and different LP classes see only what they should), timestamped audit trails, and dynamic watermarks on sensitive documents. Peony provides all of these on the Business plan at $40/admin/month. If the GP is using DocSend, note that it lacks folder-level permissions and NDA gating — fine for pitch decks, inadequate for fund diligence. If they are on Datasite at $60,000+/year, ask whether that cost is being passed through to the fund as an expense.
Our PE firm runs 8-12 deals per year across buy-side and sell-side — how does Peony's cost compare to Datasite and Firmex for that pipeline volume?
At $40/admin/month on the Business plan, Peony includes unlimited data rooms — so 8-12 concurrent data rooms cost the same as one. A 5-person deal team pays $2,400/year total on Peony. Datasite charges $25,000+ per data room, so 10 deals would run $250,000+/year. Firmex charges $5,000-$20,000 per project with no AI capabilities. Ideals uses enterprise pricing that scales with deal volume. Peony delivers the same security stack — dynamic watermarks, screenshot protection, NDA gating, audit trails — plus AI-powered Q&A and auto-indexing that Firmex and Datasite do not offer. That is a 99% cost reduction versus Datasite with no feature trade-offs.
I'm an independent sponsor with a $20M revenue company under LOI and 19 investors ready for data room access plus another 38 in discussions — how do I manage a 57-investor pipeline with progressive disclosure?
Create one data room for the deal and use Peony's multi-group permissions to stage access. Set up a first group for your 19 committed investors with full diligence access — financial statements, quality of earnings, customer contracts, and management presentations. Set up a second group for your 38 pipeline investors with limited access to the investment memo and high-level financials only. As pipeline investors progress to serious diligence, move them to the full-access group. When investors request follow-up materials, upload the new files hidden by default, then selectively reveal them only to the investors who asked — no one else sees documents they did not request. Peony Business at $40 per admin per month includes unlimited groups, domain whitelisting so each investor's associates can self-register through their firm's email domain, and access questions that pre-qualify investors before they enter the room — you can ask whether they are a fund, family office, or lender, and what their target commitment size is. Datasite would charge you $25,000 or more for this single room, and ShareFile has no granular permissions, no analytics, and no pre-qualification workflow at all.
We're a 2-person independent sponsor team with no fund revenue yet — how do we look institutional to family offices and co-investors when we don't have a fund name behind us?
Peony's branded data rooms let you add your firm's logo, custom cover image, and brand colors to every room you share — so your co-investor outreach looks like it came from a firm with a back office, not a two-person team working from a kitchen table. Beyond branding, Peony's text annotations let you build a narrative around your documents — explain your deal thesis, call out key financial metrics, and guide investors through the data room in a logical sequence instead of dumping 80 files into a folder. This storytelling capability is something no other data room offers, not even Datasite or Firmex. For a team with zero revenue until the deal closes, Peony Business at $40 per admin per month is $960 per year for two admins — versus $25,000 or more at Datasite per deal, which is economically impossible when you have no management fee income yet. Page-level analytics show you which family offices are spending real time in your room, so you prioritize follow-ups with the 3 out of 15 who actually read your quality of earnings report.
Our independent sponsor deal has external legal advisors and accounting advisors who need data room access — how do I make sure they only see their deal and not our other active deal under exclusivity?
Create separate data rooms for each deal — one for your active fundraise and one for your second deal under exclusivity. Add your legal and accounting advisors to only the data room they are working on using email-based access with their specific email addresses. Peony's workspace permissions ensure that team members and external advisors tagged to one data room cannot see or access any other data room in your workspace unless you explicitly grant it. For an independent sponsor running 2 concurrent deals with different advisor teams, this segregation is not optional — an advisor accidentally seeing the other deal's materials would violate your NDA with that seller. Peony Business at $40 per admin per month includes granular workspace-level access control, audit trails showing exactly who accessed which room and when, and dynamic watermarks that trace any leaked document back to the specific viewer. Google Drive and Dropbox shared folders have no workspace-level segregation at all — one wrong share permission and your NDA is breached.
Close more deals. Report with confidence.
Join PE firms and independent sponsors already using Peony for buy-side diligence, LP fundraising, continuation vehicles, portfolio monitoring, fundless deal execution, and exit preparation — enterprise-grade security at $40/user/month.
24/7 dedicated support for enterprise deals