Due Diligence Checklists › CleanTech › Growth / Pre-IPO
CleanTech Startup Investment Checklist: Growth / Pre-IPO Stage (2026)
This checklist covers 23 due diligence items for CleanTech startups at the Growth / Pre-IPO stage. Each item has been validated against institutional investor practice. DDR automates the majority of these checks from a single pitch deck PDF upload.
23 checklist items · 3 red flags automatically detected · See a sample DDR report
Growth / Pre-IPO Requirements
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$10M+ ARR with clear path to $100M+
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Profitability or credible path to profitability within 24 months
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Category leadership: top 1–2 in defined market
✓
CFO and board ready for public market scrutiny
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Revenue quality: multi-year contracts, low churn, high NRR
✓
Institutional governance: audit committee, independent board majority
CleanTech Sector
✓
Independent technical review of core technology completed
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Offtake agreements or LOIs for at least 12 months of revenue reviewed
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Supply chain risk assessment for critical materials
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Permitting status verified for all active projects
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IRA tax credit monetization strategy documented
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Manufacturing cost model at scale stress-tested
Deep Dive
✓
Technical diligence: independent engineering review of core technology claims
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Review all project agreements: PPAs, offtake, interconnection agreements
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Assess supply chain: critical materials sourcing (lithium, cobalt, rare earths)
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Review permitting status for any physical infrastructure projects
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Assess IRA tax credit applicability and monetization strategy
Regulatory
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Verify: FERC and state PUC interconnection requirements for grid-connected projects
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Verify: Environmental permitting: NEPA review for large projects can take 2–7 years
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Verify: IRA tax credit uncertainty: political risk of credit reduction or elimination
OSINT Signals
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Check: DOE awards and ARPA-E grants database
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Check: Patent filings in target technology area
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Check: LinkedIn team: engineering PhDs vs. sales headcount ratio
DDR AUTOMATES THIS CHECKLIST
Upload a CleanTech startup pitch deck and DDR automatically completes 16+ of these 23 checklist items — sourcing data from 13 OSINT signals, benchmarking against 3 comparable companies, and detecting all 3 critical red flags.
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