AI Strategy Due Diligence
From pre-LOI to the first 100 days. Strategic diligence on an AI-native or AI-enabled target — moat, unit economics, scalability, red flags — then the value creation plan for the first 100 days. For PE deal and operating partners, and corporate M&A teams.
PRICE
From €15,000
DELIVERY
2–3 weeks + 100 days
REVIEW
Signed by a partner
§ 01 · The problem
"Management says AI is core. The DD deck has one slide on it. The valuation prices three."
AI has become a value driver in deal valuations — and a value risk that traditional diligence misses. Commercial diligence reads the marketing; technical diligence audits the code. Neither tells you whether the AI roadmap is real, defensible, and worth what is being priced in.
This Signature delivers the independent read your transaction needs — capability, talent, data, vendor concentration, defensibility, AI Act exposure, valuation impact — and, if you close, the plan that turns findings into value in the first 100 days. Code and data audits are run with a specialist technical partner, under our lead.
§ 02 · What you get
A deal-grade report, and the plan for the first 100 days.
Six deliverables structured the way investment committees read diligence — the last one bridging to execution after closing.
DELIVERABLE 01
Executive summary & verdict
3-page exec summary with explicit verdict: green / amber / red on each diligence dimension. Calibrated to your deal thesis. The first slide investment committee reads — and often the only one.
DELIVERABLE 02
Capability & maturity assessment
Target's AI capabilities benchmarked against sector standards: deployed systems, talent depth, data assets, MLOps maturity, governance posture. What's real vs management narrative.
DELIVERABLE 03
Competitive & defensibility analysis
How does the target's AI position hold against direct competitors and adjacent threats? Where's the moat — and where's it eroding? The strategic read your commercial DD didn't deliver.
DELIVERABLE 04
Risk register
15-20 AI-specific risks with likelihood, impact, and post-close remediation cost. EU AI Act exposure, vendor concentration, talent retention, IP integrity, model drift. The risks that don't appear in QofE — but should price in.
DELIVERABLE 05
Valuation impact & deal terms
Quantified upside and downside on the AI roadmap, value creation potential vs price reduction levers, suggested representations & warranties, earn-out structures, post-close integration priorities.
DELIVERABLE 06
100-day value creation plan
If you close: five to ten AI levers quantified in EBITDA, net of AI costs, sequenced over 100 days, 12 months and 36 months, with tracking instrumentation.
§ 03 · Process & timeline
Two to three weeks before LOI. A hundred days after closing.
Calibrated to your deal calendar: from the thesis call to the investment committee readout, then the value creation plan if you close.
WEEK 1
Deal thesis framing
90-min session with the deal team: investment thesis, AI hypothesis, value creation logic, key open questions. We calibrate the diligence to your specific deal — not generic AI maturity.
WEEKS 1–2
Data room & interviews
Data room review (technical docs, AI policies, vendor contracts, talent roster). 4-6 management interviews (CTO, Head of AI, Head of Data, key engineers). Customer references where granted.
WEEK 2
Competitive scan & benchmarking
Sector benchmarking against 5-8 direct and adjacent competitors. Defensibility assessment. Risk register populated. Preliminary findings shared with deal team for course-correction.
WEEKS 2–3
Valuation & deal terms
Quantified EV impact. R&W, earn-out and escrow recommendations. The 100-day value creation plan structured. Working draft circulated to the deal team.
WEEK 3
Final report & readout
Final 40-50 page DD report delivered. 90-min readout to deal team and investment committee. Q&A and recommendation defended live. Report ready for the deal data room.
§ 04 · Frequently asked
Six honest answers to common questions.
What level of target cooperation do you need?
Full DD requires management interviews, data room access, and 4-6 hours of CTO/Head of AI time. We can run a "blind" version on public materials only — useful for pre-LOI screening — but the depth and defensibility drop materially. We're transparent about which mode you're getting.
Are you "buy-side" only, or also sell-side?
Both — but never on the same deal. Buy-side: we work for the acquirer, evaluating the target. Sell-side: we work for sellers (or their advisors) to surface and remediate AI weaknesses before going to market. Cleaner deals, better outcomes. We flag the conflict if both sides approach us on the same transaction.
Is two to three weeks compatible with a fast deal calendar?
Yes — we can compress to ten business days with target cooperation. Faster than that, the report loses defensibility, and we will tell you so.
How do you handle confidentiality?
NDA before any deal-specific conversation. Reports delivered through your data room, never our infrastructure. We track which transactions we've worked on and decline conflicts. Specialist DD only works with absolute confidentiality discipline — we treat it that way.
Do you work alongside other diligence advisers?
Yes. We complement commercial and financial diligence with AI-specific depth, and coordinate with the other advisers so the work feeds the same investment committee package without duplication.
If we close, do you deliver the value creation plan?
Yes — it is the second phase of this Signature. The 100-day plan is scoped with the diligence and launched at closing. The diligence verdict stays independent of it.
§ Ready when you are
Price the AI risk before the deal does it for you.
From €15,000, two to three weeks before LOI, then 100 days. Signed by a partner. The AI diligence that holds in negotiation, in committee, and after closing.