South African investment company Knife Capital today announced the launch of YueDiligence, an alternative due diligence platform to bridge the information gap between entrepreneurs and investors.
The new web-based tool automates and structures the initial due diligence process to capture, analyse, summarise and communicate the commercial potential of a company in an investor-friendly format, enabling users to make informed decisions.
“The lack of access to funding is perceived as one of the top constraints inhibiting the growth of early-stage ventures worldwide, but lack of access to information may be the real reason why not more entrepreneurial ventures get funded,” says Keet van Zyl, co-founder of YueDiligence and Knife Capital.
“Without seamless information exchange during the due diligence process, the investment cycle drags on and deal fatigue creeps in. Transactions with good intent and exciting prospects fail to close, resulting in the misallocation of resources for all parties involved.”
Combining dynamic company information with an ever-growing peer database and self-learning algorithms, YueDiligence generates various gap analysis reports, an interactive dashboard, action points/ growth recommendations, indicative company valuation range and an active due diligence checklist.
“Entrepreneurs are at the forefront of industry disruption and corporates need to build better partnerships with SMEs to future-proof themselves. Alternative risk-quantification methods like YueDiligence facilitate these partnerships and match investors of time and/or money with like-minded entrepreneurs,” says Andrea Bӧhmert, partner at Knife Capital.
“In the knowledge economy, changes to a company’s risk profile should have an immediate effect on its valuation and access to blended financial products. YueDiligence is a disruptor that will help shape the banks of the future by changing the way SME support can be measurably facilitated.”
A product of South African venture investor Knife Capital, YueDiligence comes with the company’s years of experience in preparing various buy-side and sell-side due diligences resulting in portfolio exits to the likes of Visa, General Electric and Garmin.
Product iterations are on-going, and the team plans to launch a second version of YueDiligence that is tailored to pre-revenue startups focusing more on business model development than business building before year-end. Other developments in the pipeline include allowing users to interact with indicative valuation metrics for a better understanding of their value and integrations with third party service providers to extend the offering.