Technical Due Diligence

According to recent data from Bain & Company, technology deals account for over 30% of all buyouts in the past decade. With so much riding on the technology, it’s critical to make sure that the risk assessment and growth plans are matching the tech under the hood.

Why is Tech Due Diligence Important?

Even in the times of economic downturns, it’s the technology deals that generate the most activity and value.

At the same time, technology has become so ubiquitous, and present in any sector, that it’s not considered a ‘vertical’ – instead, technology cuts across the entire investment process and impacts almost every deal, as every company is a technology-enabled company, where technology is the main driver of the next growth and profitability initiative.

With so much riding on the technology, it’s critical to make sure that the risk assessment and growth plans are matching the tech under the hood.

Download the Tech DD Brochure

Who is a Technology Review for?

  • Investors

    As an investor, you want to make sure that the tech and product you’re investing in is built on a strong foundation, with a modern technology stack. That it runs on scalable infrastructure, that allows for that rapid growth without requiring unaccounted investment. 

     

  • Startups

    If you’re looking to scale up to the next level, or are looking to reset the technology vision to embrace cutting edge technologies, our Due Diligence will help you identify gaps and best way forward to improve the product and be ready for the next investment round.

What’s included

As an investor, you want to make sure that the tech and product you’re investing in is built on a strong foundation, with a modern technology stack. That it runs on scalable infrastructure, that allows for that rapid growth without requiring unaccounted investment. That the data it holds is secure with processes and architecture in place to prevent unauthorised usage, which is the focus of many state regulatory regimes, and can have a huge negative impact on reputation.

However, the tech due diligence should cover much more. In addition to core tech capability described above,for success in the current investment landscape: how is technology managed and pushed forward by humans, organised into products and services and delivered on the bottom line as promised?

To address all that, the Tech Due Diligence, must cover much broader horizon and all aspects of technology enablement.

  • 1

    Leadership

    Ensuring the right persons in place to devise that technology strategy and vision and  see it’s successful execution

  • 2

    Technology Strategy

    As an investor, you want to make sure that the tech and product you’re investing in is built on a strong foundation, with a modern technology stack. That it runs on scalable infrastructure, that allows for that rapid growth without requiring unaccounted investment. 

  • 3

    Product & roadmap

    Review of existing product suite and strategy; product roadmap assessment; product design & development process review

  • 4

    People

    Hiring plans, staff retention, skill gaps, knowledge sharing, onboarding process. Going for growth usually means hiring – hiring well and in a timely manner in modern tech job market request streamlined processes

  • 5

    Engineering practices

    All aspects of day-to-day engineering processed:  code quality, reusability, extensibility, automation, testing, tech stack, peer reviews

  • 6

    Commercial analysis

    Technology budget outcomes, client management, technology cost of ownership

Case Studies

  • 1

    Case Study: AI product company

    tsf.tech were appointed by three co-investors to undertake a due diligence assessment on an AI product company, focused on their product and technology development practices.

    The company was seeking growth capital to continue to build and enhance their existing product strategy, developing the organisation capabilities re depth and capabilities of their AI and ML strategy. The company was well placed in a growth market with strong brand positioning, domain knowledge, and an experienced leadership and technology team.

    Download the case study below to read more about the structure of the report and the findings identified.

    Download Case Study

  • 2

    Case Study: Lead Generation Marketing Platform

    tsf.tech were appointed by an institutional investor to undertake a high level technical due diligence assessment of the target company’s digital marketing platform, focused on their software engineering and development practices.

    The investment was for further automating functionality on both an incremental basis and also implementing a longer-term AI oriented product roadmap, to build a scalable and more dynamic platform to meet the needs of current and future customers. Funding will also be used to scale headcount in key technology, process and client facing functions.

    Download the case study below to read more about the structure of the report and the findings identified.

  • 3

    Case Study: Gaming Company

    tsf.tech were appointed by two co-investors to undertake a high level commercial and technical due diligence assessment on a high growth venture focused on their Computer Games development practices.

    The company was seeking follow-on investment, enabling them to continue to build and enhance their existing product development strategy. The focus was on significant and accelerated headcount growth and developing the organisation product capabilities, and less on the technology itself.

    Download the case study below to read more about the structure of the report and the findings identified.

Get In Touch

Due diligence can be a crucial step in the startup and investment journey. If our due diligence service is something that you feel would benefit your startup, or your investment process, get in touch with the team at thestartupfactory.tech at duediligence@thestartupfactory.tech

We’re ready to talk...

Wherever you are on your startup journey, get in touch and let’s unpack your thinking together and see where we can help turn your idea into a reality.