Buy & Sell-Side Diligence

Price The Payments Thesis Before You Close.

A 1 to 3 week payments diagnostic for financial sponsors. We validate the target’s payments economics before close and give the investment committee a model it can pressure-test.

Book A Call See The IC Pack
Investment Committee Diligence Pack1 To 3 Week Deal Clock
TARGET EVIDENCE SELECTED AT SCOPE IC MEMO / 4 TO 6 SLIDES DECISION FILES DATA ROOM Payments reporting Contracts + forecast Evidence boundary confirmed SURFACE 01 Cost-side lift SURFACE 02 Projection validation EXECUTIVE MEMO / DECISION READY 01 / BASELINE 02 / WATERFALL 03 / EBITDA 04 / WATCH ITEMS 05 / ROADMAP ONE-SLIDE FEE WATERFALL Gross payments revenue Processor + network costs Other direct costs Normalized net payments revenue UNDERWRITTEN OUTPUTS EBITDA lift Deal flags Roadmap FINANCIAL MODEL Analyst pressure test BASE CASE / LINKED DOWNSIDE + UPSIDE / LINKED WATCH-ITEMS LIST What can change the deal CONTRACT FORECAST PORTABILITY CONCENTRATION TARGET EVIDENCE Payments reporting, contracts + forecast Data room evidence boundary confirmed SELECTED AT SCOPE SURFACE 01 Cost-side lift SURFACE 02 Projection test IC MEMO / 4 TO 6 SLIDES 01 / BASELINE 02 / WATERFALL 03 / EBITDA 04 / WATCH 05 / ROADMAP ONE-SLIDE FEE WATERFALL Gross payments revenue Processor + network costs Other direct costs Normalized net payments revenue OUTPUT / EBITDA LIFT + FLAGS + ROADMAP FINANCIAL MODEL Pressure test BASE / LINKED RANGE / LINKED WATCH ITEMS Deal flags CONTRACT + FORECAST PORTABILITY + CONCENTRATION

Read by the investment committee: four to six slides, a model your analyst can pressure-test, and a watch-items list.

Primary Lane

Buy-side underwriting for a sponsor evaluating a vertical-SaaS target with embedded payments.

Secondary Lane

Sell-side preparation is available through banker channels. Buy-side underwriting and sell-side preparation use different evidence boundaries.

The Problem

Embedded Payments Can Move The Deal Math.

Straata turns the data room into a normalized baseline, confidence-ranked scenarios, and the watch items that can change the bid, market story, or first 100 days.

Underwriting Gap RegisterTarget Evidence / Sponsor Decision
Why This Work Exists

When payments can change the bid, the story, or the first 100 days.

01

Headline payments revenue obscures net economics, loss-making cohorts, and true processor cost.

Underwriting Question

What is the normalized margin baseline, and which cost-side levers can support an EBITDA-lift case?

02

Contracts hide concentration, minimum commitments, portability limits, and exit exposure.

Deal Question

Which terms can constrain the thesis, alter the bid, or change the order of post-close work?

03

Management forecasts blend assumptions with evidence, making EBITDA upside look firmer than it is.

Projection Question

Which attachment, pricing, and take-rate assumptions remain defensible after the source data is normalized?

What You Get

A Pressure-Tested Payments Case For The IC.

Straata turns the data room into one normalized baseline, a confidence-ranked upside and downside case, and the few watch items that can change the bid, market story, or first 100 days.

Diligence Decision PackageDe-Identified Structure / Scope Specific
What Lands With The Deal Team
Buy & Sell-Side Diligence / Final

Investment Committee Pack

4 to 6 slides / Model / Watch items
01Executive memoDecision brief
02Financial modelPressure-test ready
03Watch-item registerOwner ready
Analytical Surfaces Selected At Scope
01

Cost-Side Lift

Fee anatomy, opportunity stack, contract constraints, and vendor-swap upside.

02

Revenue-Side Projection Validation

Management-projection decomposition and a defensibility test for the growth case.

Decision Outputs
Underwriting

EBITDA-lift case

Risk

Deal-killer flags

Execution

Post-close roadmap

What Is Included

The evidence, model, and decision surfaces stay linked so the analyst can trace each conclusion back to the data room.

01

Effective-cost and net-revenue baseline

02

Processor-contract, concentration, portability, and commitment review

03

Management-forecast and attachment-rate stress test

04

Scenario and EBITDA sizing with explicit evidence states

05

Optional vendor landscape and post-close sequence

06

Executive memo, model, watch-item register, and live walkthrough

How It Works

The Work Fits The Deal Clock.

The engagement compresses evidence collection, analysis, and sponsor review into the timeline available before close.

Five-Stage Diligence ArcScope To IC Review
01Scope

Set the evidence boundary.

Confirm the target, decision deadline, available data, and whether cost-side lift, revenue-side validation, or both belong in scope.

Output / Scoped Request
02Collect

Build the working data room.

Collect processor reporting, contracts, payments P&L inputs, cohort detail, and the management forecast used in underwriting.

Output / Evidence Register
03Run Diagnostic

Normalize and pressure-test.

Rebuild the baseline, test the selected analytical surfaces, size the case, and isolate the few issues that can move the deal.

Output / Linked Analysis
04Deliver

Package the IC decision.

Deliver the executive memo, financial model, fee waterfall, and watch-item register in a form the analyst can use immediately.

Output / IC Pack
05Review

Walk the deal team through it.

Review the evidence states, answer model questions, and align the sponsor on bid implications and the post-close sequence.

Output / Sponsor Review
1 to 3 weeks

The schedule flexes with data readiness and the transaction deadline. The final pack stays deliberately compressed for investment committee use.

Proof / Public-Safe And De-Identified

The Record Covers Sponsors And Underwriting Outcomes.

Each claim carries its evidence state. Identified means an opportunity surfaced by diligence, not a realized result. Executed means a completed engagement. Structural marks a fact about how the market or system works, not an outcome of one engagement.

Diligence Evidence RegisterAggregate / De-Identified
Identified ~$1M EBITDA Improvement

Identified for a de-identified healthcare-vertical target ahead of close.

Executed 17 / 14 Engagements / Financial Sponsors

Documented diligence engagements across an aggregate sponsor set.

Structural

The analysis compounds: every diligence adds to the comp set the next one is priced against.

Cross-Portfolio Comp Set

These are separate, de-identified evidence points. The identified opportunity was not presented as a realized post-close result.

Fit Check

Use Diligence When Payments Can Change The Bid.

The strongest fit is a sponsor bidding on a vertical-SaaS target with embedded payments and a decision timeline measured in weeks. Best for sponsors, deal teams, management teams, and sell-side advisors. Choose this when payments can change underwriting, valuation, or the post-close plan.

For PE sponsors, deal teams, operating partners, management teams, and sell-side advisors when payments can change underwriting, valuation, or the post-close plan. Not for generic legal, tax, or quality-of-earnings diligence; opportunities without usable payments data; or implementation work.

Engagement lane routing
Buyer situationLaneDestination
Sponsor bidding a vertical-SaaS targetBuy-side diligenceThis engagement
Banker running a sell-side processSell-side laneThis engagement
Operator seeking their own assessmentDiagnosticPayments Diagnostic
Post-close optimizationDiagnostic or Residual AuditDiagnostic / Residual Audit

What Happens Next

Pressure-Test Payments Before The Deal Closes.

The first call confirms the target, transaction timing, available payments evidence, and the analytical surface the investment committee needs.

Book A Call
Continue The WorkAdjacent Routes
Sponsor Context Private Equity & Investors See how Straata makes payments revenue and risk comparable across a portfolio. Explore The Channel Post-Close Case Business Case Formation Turn the diligence model and roadmap into the workbook the board can approve. Build The Case