The 12-source due-diligence checklist for UK angel investors
Updated 13 July 2026 · Tero
Proper diligence on a UK startup means checking about a dozen sources. Each takes minutes once you know where to look; together they take an evening, which is why most angels check two, or none. The list:
Companies House: is the entity real, are filings current, who are the directors and PSCs? Free.
SH01 allotment filings: the real price and size of every prior round, and the implied valuation. Free, buried in PDFs.
The Gazette: insolvency, winding-up and bankruptcy notices, incl. against founders personally. Free.
Disqualified-directors register: is anyone banned from running a company? Free.
Sanctions lists (OFSI, OFAC, UN): a screen every professional investor runs and most angels skip. Free.
Court judgments (Find Case Law, The National Archives): litigation involving the company or founders, 2022 onwards. Free.
Adverse media: targeted news search for fraud, regulatory action, disputes. Free to do manually.
FCA Financial Services Register: essential for anything fintech: is the firm (or founder) authorised, an appointed representative, or neither? Free.
Website traffic estimates: does the traffic curve corroborate the claimed growth? Paid data (SEMrush et al.).
App-store ratings and review counts: real user counts for consumer products. Free.
Hiring boards & LinkedIn headcount: companies hire ahead of growth and freeze ahead of trouble. Free.
Reviews (Trustpilot, G2, Reddit): what customers say when the founder isn't in the room. Free.
A clean check is a finding too, and absence of data is not adverse evidence. Most private companies publish almost nothing; the skill is separating "not disclosed" (normal) from "contradicts the pitch" (a real flag).
Tero runs all twelve automatically on every screen, adds a nine-module researched report on the market, competition, founders and plan, and lists each check it ran with its result. That's the product: the evening of tab-hopping, done in minutes.
Company & filings
People
Traction & digital
The honest caveat
A clean check is a finding too, and absence of data is not adverse evidence. Most private companies publish almost nothing; the skill is separating "not disclosed" (normal) from "contradicts the pitch" (a real flag).
Tero runs all twelve automatically on every screen, adds a nine-module researched report on the market, competition, founders and plan, and lists each check it ran with its result. That's the product: the evening of tab-hopping, done in minutes.
Tero runs these checks automatically.
Twelve sources, one gateway. Diligence in minutes, monitoring forever.