Due Diligence Checklists › FoodTech › Pre-Seed
FoodTech Startup Investment Checklist: Pre-Seed Stage (2026)
This checklist covers 21 due diligence items for FoodTech startups at the Pre-Seed stage. Each item has been validated against institutional investor practice. DDR automates the majority of these checks from a single pitch deck PDF upload.
21 checklist items · 2 red flags automatically detected · See a sample DDR report
Pre-Seed Requirements
✓
Founding team quality and relevant domain expertise
✓
Problem evidence: clear pain, ideally lived experience
✓
Market size: TAM must justify a venture-scale outcome
✓
Early signal of demand: waitlist, LOIs, or first customers
✓
Founder-market fit: why this team for this problem
✓
Proprietary insight competitors don't have
FoodTech Sector
✓
GRAS status confirmed for all novel ingredients
✓
Production cost model at scale reviewed
✓
Taste test data reviewed with methodology
✓
Retailer agreements reviewed
✓
Food safety and recall plan documented
Deep Dive
✓
FDA GRAS status for all novel ingredients
✓
Production cost projection and manufacturing scale-up plan
✓
Retailer or QSR partnership agreements
✓
IP protection for novel production processes
Regulatory
✓
Verify: FDA GRAS determination for novel food ingredients
✓
Verify: USDA inspection for cell-cultured meat facilities
✓
Verify: Food safety recalls: product liability exposure
OSINT Signals
✓
Check: FDA GRAS notification database
✓
Check: USPTO patents for novel food production processes
✓
Check: Retailer SKU listings and shelf presence
DDR AUTOMATES THIS CHECKLIST
Upload a FoodTech startup pitch deck and DDR automatically completes 15+ of these 21 checklist items — sourcing data from 13 OSINT signals, benchmarking against 2 comparable companies, and detecting all 2 critical red flags.
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