What Documents Do Investors Need Before Funding My App?

Getting investor meetings is hard enough, but then you sit down and they start asking for documents you didn't know you needed to prepare. I've watched founders scramble to pull together paperwork while their funding window closes, and it's honestly painful to see because most of this stuff should have been ready weeks before that first pitch meeting. The documentation investors want hasn't really changed that much over the years (they've always wanted to see numbers and proof), but the level of detail they expect has definitely increased, especially when it comes to technical specifics and data protection compliance.

Investors receive hundreds of pitches each month, and incomplete documentation is often the fastest way to lose their attention and interest in your project.

After working with dozens of app founders who've successfully raised anywhere from £50k to over £2 million, I can tell you the documentation requirements follow pretty predictable patterns. The tricky bit is that different investors focus on different things... a technical angel investor who built apps themselves will drill into your codebase and architecture, whilst someone from a traditional finance background might spend hours picking apart your revenue projections and unit economics. You need all of it ready, organised, and easy to access within about 48 hours of being asked.

The biggest mistake I see is founders treating due diligence as something that happens after they've secured investor interest. It doesn't work that way. Smart investors are actually doing light due diligence from your very first conversation, and the quality of your documentation tells them whether you're organised, thorough, and worth their time. Missing documents or vague answers don't just slow things down, they raise red flags about your ability to run a business properly.

Financial Projections and Business Model Documentation

Your financial projections need to cover at least three years (though five is better if you can make realistic assumptions that far out), broken down month by month for the first year and quarterly after that. Investors want to see revenue forecasts, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, cash flow projections, and a clear path to profitability or at least how you'll use their money to hit the next funding milestone. I've seen founders present projections that show hockey stick growth with no explanation of the drivers behind those numbers, and it just doesn't work... you need to show exactly what assumptions you're making about user acquisition costs, conversion rates, average revenue per user, and churn.

The business model documentation goes deeper than just "we charge users a subscription" or "we take a percentage of transactions". Investors want to understand your unit economics in detail, meaning how much it costs to acquire each customer, how much revenue that customer generates over their lifetime, and what your gross margins look like. If you're running a marketplace app, they'll want to see both sides of your model. This means supplier acquisition costs and buyer acquisition costs separately. Understanding what your app's first year budget should include will help you present realistic financial projections that investors can actually trust.

You should include actual bank statements, not just spreadsheet projections, showing your current financial position and burn rate. If you've already got revenue coming in (even if it's just a few hundred quid a month), document exactly where it's coming from, which user segments are paying, and whether those revenue sources are growing or flat. Break down your cost structure so investors can see where money is going... server costs, payment processing fees, team salaries, marketing spend, and any other operational expenses that keep your app running.

Technical Architecture and Development Roadmap

Technical investors will want to look under the hood, which means preparing documentation about your app's architecture, technology stack, and development approach. This includes what programming languages and frameworks you're using (React Native, Flutter, native iOS and Android, whatever), how your backend is structured, what databases you're running, what third-party services you're integrated with, and how everything connects together. You don't need to hand over your entire codebase right away, but you should have detailed technical documentation that explains how your app works from a systems perspective. If you've used any third-party libraries or ready-made components, make sure to document your approach to using ready-made code versus building everything fresh.

Your development roadmap should map out the next 12 to 18 months of product development, showing what features you're building, when you expect to ship them, and why they matter for your business goals. I usually recommend breaking this into specific releases or sprints so investors can see you've thought through the sequencing... there's nothing worse than a roadmap that's just a list of features with no timeline or prioritisation logic. If you're planning to build certain features only after you receive funding, be clear about that and explain why those features need the investment to happen.

Create a separate one-page technical summary for non-technical investors that explains your architecture in simple terms, then keep the detailed technical specs available for when their technical advisors do deeper checks.

Security architecture deserves its own section in your technical documentation. Explain how you're handling data encryption (both in transit and at rest), how you're managing authentication and authorisation, what your approach to API security looks like, and how you're protecting against common vulnerabilities. Understanding API security vulnerabilities that can break mobile platforms is crucial for building investor confidence in your technical approach. If you've done penetration testing or security audits, include those reports. If you haven't done formal security testing yet but you've followed security best practices in your development process, document what you've done and what you're planning to do once you have more resources.

Market Research and Competitive Analysis Reports

Investors need to understand the market you're operating in, which means you'll need to prepare proper market research documentation showing market size, growth rate, key trends, and where your app fits into the bigger picture. Total addressable market calculations are sort of standard here, though honestly most founders get these wrong by being way too optimistic... it's better to be conservative and show you understand the realistic portion of the market you can capture rather than claiming you're going after every mobile user in the country.

Your competitive analysis should cover both direct competitors (other apps doing basically the same thing) and indirect competitors (different solutions to the same problem your users have). For each competitor, document their strengths, weaknesses, market position, pricing model, and how your app differentiates from theirs. Consider whether your strategy should include targeting your competitor's unhappy users as part of your growth plan. I've built a simple framework that works well for presenting this:

Include any user research you've conducted... interviews, surveys, usability testing results, anything that shows you've actually talked to your target users and understand their needs. If you've identified specific pain points in existing solutions that your app solves better, document those with supporting evidence from real user feedback. Investors want to see that your understanding of the market comes from actual research rather than just your assumptions about what users might want.

Intellectual Property and Legal Documentation

The IP section is where many founders get tripped up because they haven't properly protected their work or they've got messy ownership structures from early development. You need to document what IP you own, what you've licensed from others, and whether there are any potential IP issues that could cause problems. This includes any patents you've filed or are planning to file (though you should understand why most app patents are rubbish), trademarks for your app name and logo, copyrights on your content and code, and any trade secrets or proprietary algorithms that give you competitive advantage. Avoiding intellectual property mistakes that could kill your app business is crucial at this stage.

Founders often discover during due diligence that they don't actually own the IP they thought they owned, particularly if early development work was done by contractors without proper assignment agreements.

Make sure you have assignment agreements from everyone who's contributed to your app development, whether they were employees, contractors, or co-founders. These agreements should clearly state that all IP created as part of their work belongs to the company, not to them personally. If you used any open source code or third-party libraries (which pretty much every app does), document what you're using and under what licenses, because some open source licenses have requirements that could affect how you can distribute or monetise your app. Be particularly careful to avoid copyright mistakes that could kill your app launch.

Your legal documentation folder should include your company incorporation documents, shareholder agreements, any existing investment agreements if you've taken money before, contracts with key suppliers or partners, and your terms of service and privacy policy. If you've got any ongoing legal issues or potential disputes (even minor ones), disclose them upfront rather than hoping they won't come up... investors will find out anyway during proper due diligence, and discovering undisclosed legal problems kills deals faster than almost anything else.

User Data and Traction Metrics

Numbers tell the real story of whether your app is working, and investors will want to see detailed analytics showing how users are actually behaving inside your app. If your app is already live, prepare reports covering downloads, active users (daily and monthly), retention rates at different time intervals (day 1, day 7, day 30), session length, session frequency, and conversion rates through your key user flows. Don't just show vanity metrics like total downloads... investors know that what matters is whether people keep using your app after they install it.

Break down your user data by cohorts so investors can see whether your metrics are improving over time as you refine your product and marketing. A cohort analysis showing that users who joined three months ago have better retention than users who joined six months ago tells investors you're learning and improving. If certain user segments perform better than others (maybe users who come through one acquisition channel stick around longer, or users in a particular demographic spend more), document those patterns because they inform your growth strategy. Consider whether your launch strategy should include a referral programme to boost these acquisition metrics.

Here's what investors typically want to see in your traction metrics:

• Monthly active users and growth rate month over month
• Retention curves showing what percentage of users stick around over time
• Revenue metrics if you're monetising (monthly recurring revenue, average revenue per user, lifetime value)
• User acquisition costs broken down by channel
• Conversion rates through key funnels (signup, onboarding, first purchase)
• Engagement metrics showing how often and how long people use your app

If you haven't launched yet, you obviously won't have user data, but you should have something... beta testing results, waitlist signups, letters of intent from potential customers, anything that shows real people want what you're building. I've worked with pre-launch apps that got funded based on strong beta metrics and clear demand signals, but you need something concrete to show, not just "we think people will love this".

Team Credentials and Organisational Structure

Investors bet on teams as much as ideas, so you need proper documentation showing who's involved, what they bring to the table, and how you're organised. Prepare detailed bios for all founders and key team members that highlight relevant experience, previous successes, technical skills, and why each person is qualified for their role. If someone on your team has built and sold apps before, or has deep domain expertise in your target market, or brings specific technical capabilities you need... make that clear.

Your organisational chart should show reporting lines, roles and responsibilities, and how you're planning to grow the team with investment funds. If you're planning to hire a head of marketing or a lead developer once you raise money, show where they'll fit in the org structure and what you expect them to deliver. Include any advisors or board members you've brought on, especially if they have relevant industry experience or investor connections that add credibility to your venture. Make sure you understand what a developer's first week should look like if you're planning to bring new technical talent on board.

Put together a separate document showing time commitment for each team member, because investors want to know if everyone is full-time on the project or splitting attention with other jobs or ventures.

Employment contracts and equity agreements for all team members should be properly documented and stored where you can access them quickly. Vesting schedules for founder equity matter because investors want to know that founders are locked in for the long term, not able to walk away with full ownership after three months. If you've got any unusual equity arrangements or verbal agreements that haven't been formalised, sort that out before you start fundraising because messy cap tables and unclear ownership make investors nervous about what other organisational issues might surface later.

Security and Compliance Certifications

Data protection and security compliance have become massive concerns for investors, especially if your app handles any sensitive user information like health data, financial information, or children's data. You need documentation showing what personal data you collect, how you store it, who has access to it, and how you're complying with GDPR and any other relevant regulations. Understanding GDPR security for enterprise apps is essential even if you're not targeting enterprise customers initially. Your privacy policy needs to be detailed and accurate, not just some template you copied from another app... investors and their lawyers will actually read it.

If your app operates in a regulated industry like healthcare or financial services, you'll need to show what certifications or compliance standards you've met or are working towards. A health app might need to document HIPAA compliance in the US or demonstrate adherence to medical device regulations if applicable, and should stay current with what technologies healthcare apps should be watching. Fintech apps need to show they understand PSD2, e-money regulations, or whatever financial services rules apply to their specific model. Even if you're not in a heavily regulated space, basic security practices like penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and security audits give investors confidence you're taking this stuff seriously.

Document your data handling procedures including how long you retain data, what happens when users request data deletion, how you handle data breaches, and what security measures protect user information. If you're using cloud services like AWS or Google Cloud, explain what security features you're using and how you've configured access controls. Any third-party services that touch user data should be listed along with how you've verified their security practices and what data processing agreements you have in place with them.

Preparing for Success

The documentation investors need before funding your app isn't just about ticking boxes during due diligence... it's about demonstrating you've built a real business with solid foundations rather than just an app with a pitch deck. Organised, thorough documentation shows investors you're professional, prepared, and understand what it takes to build something that lasts. I've seen founders with weaker products get funded over founders with better apps simply because their documentation was tighter and gave investors confidence in the team's ability to execute.

Start building your documentation library now, even if you're not ready to fundraise yet. Keep everything in a secure data room (services like DocSend or Dropbox work fine) where you can grant access quickly when investors ask. Update your metrics monthly, keep your financials current, and maintain your technical docs as your product evolves so you're always ready when opportunity shows up.

If you're working on an app and need help getting your documentation ready for investors, get in touch and we can walk through what you'll need based on your specific situation and funding goals.

Frequently Asked Questions