A well-recognised VDR among European investors and advisors, with enterprise-grade security and strong support.
Ideals is a purpose-built virtual data room used by over one million professionals globally across transactions, due diligence, fundraising and board communications. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in the UK, it serves 175,000 companies across 175 countries including investment banks, advisory firms and institutional investors across Europe. For a searcher setting up a VDR on day one of the exclusivity period, Ideals provides everything needed immediately: granular access permissions, dynamic watermarking, Q&A management, bulk document upload and real-time activity tracking. The 24/7 live support with a confirmed 30-second response time in live chat is a genuine differentiator during a time-pressured DD process where questions cannot wait until the next business day.
Why searchers use it
A search fund DD process involves multiple parties working simultaneously: the searcher, their accountants running QoE, their lawyers reviewing contracts, their equity investors reviewing the investment memo and their lender conducting parallel credit diligence. Ideals manages all of these parties in a single secure environment with separate access levels for each group. Investors and lenders recognise the platform and are comfortable working in it, which removes friction at a stage when every day of the exclusivity period counts. The platform’s reputation with institutional parties is its most relevant differentiator for a European searcher.
Core capabilities relevant to search funds
- Eight levels of granular access permissions allowing the searcher to control exactly what each party can see and do
- Dynamic watermarking on all viewed, downloaded or printed documents
- Bulk document upload with auto-indexing, reducing setup time on day one of exclusivity
- Integrated Q&A module for managing document requests and responses between parties
- Real-time activity tracking showing which documents each party has viewed and for how long
- Remote shred allowing the searcher to revoke document access at any time including after download
- Two-factor authentication and IP restriction for additional security
- Interface available in 15 languages
- ISO 27001, SOC 2 and GDPR compliant with EU data hosting available
Honest limitations
Pricing is quote-based and not publicly listed, making it difficult to budget before requesting a quote. Storage overages are charged on a prorated basis but can add up on document-heavy deals.
Getting started
Request a quote and access a 30-day free trial
Pricing
- Quote-based across three plans: Core, Premier and Enterprise
Core plan estimated around $500/month based on third-party sources
Free 30-day trial available
