“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.
Free forever tier
2 GB of storage, unlimited links, and full analytics — at $0. Upgrade only when you need more space.
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 I include in my startup data room?
A startup data room typically includes your pitch deck, financials (revenue model, projections, burn rate), cap table, incorporation documents, IP assignments, and product roadmap. Peony provides pre-built folder templates that match the structure investors expect, so you never have to guess what goes where.
How much does a startup data room cost?
Peony offers a free tier with 2 GB of storage, unlimited links, and full page-level analytics — enough for most early-stage startups. Paid plans start at $20/admin/month (Pro, 200 GB) and $40/admin/month (Business, 1 TB) with no per-viewer, per-page, or per-link limits, so costs stay predictable as your investor list grows. Unlike legacy VDRs like Ideals or Firmex that charge hundreds per month, Peony gives you enterprise-grade security at a fraction of the cost.
How long does it take to set up a data room for investors?
Peony sets up in under 5 minutes with no sales call required. Upload your documents, and AI auto-organizes them into the folder structure investors expect. Unlike Firmex or Digify, which require onboarding calls and manual configuration, Peony is ready to share the moment you sign up.
Can investors access my data room without creating an account?
Yes. Peony generates secure, personalized links for each investor — no login required on their end. You can add password protection, NDA gating, or link expiry for extra control. Every view is tracked with page-level analytics so you know exactly who reviewed what.
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 Type II compliant infrastructure. 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 — all included on every plan, 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 AI-generated due diligence checklists that track which documents are uploaded versus missing. The free tier covers most early-stage needs, and setting up a professional data room signals seriousness and saves time during diligence.