Most small companies need a data room two or three times in their life – to raise money, to borrow, and to sell. It does not need to cost like an M&A room or take weeks to build.
Short answer: A small business or startup data room is a secure online folder set – typically 6–9 numbered folders and 50–300 documents – shared with named investors, buyers or lenders, each with their own access, an NDA, watermarks and a log of who read what. For one transaction, a one-off price (HelpRange: $199 for 90 days) is usually cheaper than a 12-month plan or a quoted M&A room.
Last updated 14 November 2026. Competitor prices as published on their pricing pages on the dates given; quote-only providers are marked. Disclosure: HelpRange makes data room software.
| Situation | Who reads it | Typical size | Starting checklist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raising a seed or Series A round | Investors, then the lead investor's lawyer | 15–150 documents | Startup fundraising |
| Selling the business | Buyers, their accountants and lawyers | 200–3,000 documents | M&A |
| Bank loan, refinancing or leasing | The lender's credit team | 20–80 documents | Financial |
| Bringing in a partner or a new shareholder | The incoming partner and adviser | 30–150 documents | Legal |
| A large customer's vendor review or a tender | The customer's procurement and security team | 10–60 documents | Vendor due diligence |
| Succession or a management buy-out | Family members, managers, their bank | 100–1,000 documents | M&A |
In each case the reader wants the same thing: the right documents, in an order they can work through, without chasing you for attachments. A shared drive can hold the files; what it cannot do is show which investor read the financials, put each reader's name on every page or end one party's access without touching the others.
| No. | Folder | Small business version |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Company | Registration extract, articles, shareholder list or cap table, board or shareholder resolutions |
| 2 | Financial | Annual accounts (3 years), current-year management accounts, bank statements, loans and leases |
| 3 | Tax | Corporate tax and VAT / sales tax returns, any tax authority correspondence |
| 4 | Customers & suppliers | Top 10 customer and supplier contracts, customer concentration, price lists |
| 5 | People | Organisation chart, employment contracts of key staff, contractor agreements, payroll summary |
| 6 | Legal & IP | Permits and licences, disputes, trademarks and domains, IP assignments, privacy documents |
| 7 | Premises & assets | Lease, fixed asset list, insurance policies |
Mark what does not exist as "not applicable" instead of deleting the line. For a sector-specific structure – a restaurant group, an agency, a software company – describe the business in one sentence in the free data room index generator, or tick through the due diligence checklist and download the empty folders as a ZIP.
| Option | Price (as published) | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared drive (Dropbox, Google Drive) | Included in your plan | Friendly, early-stage sharing | No per-page analytics, anonymous link viewers, no NDA gate, static watermarks – see Dropbox as a data room |
| HelpRange Deal Room Pass | $199 once for 90 days | One sale, round or loan | Ends after 90 days – buy another pass or move to a plan if the deal runs longer |
| HelpRange Max | $87 per team per month ($69 billed yearly) | Companies that share with investors or lenders all year | No custom domain (Unlimited, $174/month, adds it) |
| DocSend Advanced Data Rooms | $180/month billed yearly, $300 monthly, 3 users | Teams already on DocSend | Per-user bundles; extra seats cost more |
| Papermark Data Rooms | €99/month (≈ $109) billed yearly, €149 (≈ $163) monthly, 3 users | Teams paying in EUR | Q&A only on higher plans |
| Enterprise M&A providers | Quote only; ~$5K–10K per 3-month project reported for one provider | Large, multi-bidder M&A | Per-page or per-project pricing, sales call needed |
Prices read on the providers' pricing pages between 31 October and 14 November 2026 – all providers, models and sources: data room software pricing comparison 2026. To price your own deal on the per-page, per-GB and flat models, use the data room cost calculator.
Describe your business in one sentence and get a numbered index with CSV download – free.
For a sale, a funding round or a bank loan, yes – once more than one outside party reads confidential documents. It keeps documents in one numbered structure, controls who sees what and records who read it.
From $199 once for 90 days (HelpRange Deal Room Pass) or $87 a month per team (Max), to $180–$300 a month on per-user plans with 3 users and quote-based prices in the thousands with enterprise M&A providers.
For a small, trusted circle, yes. For several buyers or investors you lose per-reader identification, page analytics, an NDA gate and per-reader watermarks.
Typically 50–300 for a small sale or funding round, 20–80 for a bank loan, and up to a few thousand for a larger company sale.
A day for the structure and the core documents if the accounts and contracts exist; longer when contracts need to be found, signed or scanned.
Pro $39, Max $87 or Unlimited $174 a month, or a Deal Room Pass for $199 once for one deal. No per-user fees, no sales call.
Amounts after ≈ are converted at the rates of 13 Nov 2026.