Due diligence checklist for a Russian startup

Buying into or acquiring a Russian startup is a deal you can win on the diligence, not just the price. The gap between a founder's pitch and the underlying reality is where value is made or lost — and for a remote investor, that gap is widened by distance, language and an unfamiliar corporate register. This checklist is a practical, section-by-section walk through what to confirm before you wire funds or sign an SPA. Treat every claim as a hypothesis to be verified against a primary source, and bring in professional legal, tax and audit counsel in the target's jurisdiction before you close — the notes below are an evaluation framework, not legal advice.

On x100base, much of this lives in a data room opened under NDA: the pitch deck, financial statements, key contracts and an independent verification report sit in one place, so you review facts instead of assembling them from scattered messages.

Financials & revenue

• Confirm the revenue number against bank statements, not the deck — a screenshot of a dashboard is a starting point, never proof.
• Reconcile monthly inflows to invoices and to the accounting ledger; check that revenue is recurring, not a handful of one-off spikes.
• Separate gross revenue from net (after refunds, chargebacks, platform fees, agent commissions).
• Understand the cash position, burn rate and runway; ask for the last several months of bank movement.
• Look for the Bank Verified badge: on x100base a reviewer reconciles stated revenue against bank statements by hand, within 48 hours, and issues an English-language report — so a remote investor can trust locally-reported numbers.

Legal & ownership

• Identify the operating entity precisely (OOO, IP, or a foreign holding) and confirm the product, contracts and bank account all sit inside it.
• Verify the cap table and that the person selling actually owns the shares they are selling, free of pledges or encumbrances.
• Review founder and key-employee agreements, vesting, and any outstanding option promises.
• Check for related-party transactions, undisclosed loans, tax arrears and open litigation.
• Have local counsel confirm the corporate structure and any cross-border transfer mechanics.

Product & tech

• Confirm IP ownership of the code: work-for-hire and contractor assignments should transfer rights to the operating entity, not to an individual founder or an outside studio.
• Check that domains, trademarks, and critical accounts (hosting, app stores, analytics) are owned by the entity.
• Review the architecture, third-party dependencies, and any single points of failure.
• Ask about security incidents, data handling and privacy exposure.

Team & traction

• Map who is essential and whether they stay after the deal — key-person risk sinks more acquisitions than bad code.
• Validate active users and engagement from the founder's own analytics; view analytics on x100base stay with the founder, so ask them to walk you through the source.
• Test the growth story: is traction organic and repeatable, or paid and fragile?
• Assess the market size and the two or three competitors that matter.

Red flags

• Revenue that can't be tied to a bank statement, or numbers that change between conversations.
• IP or trademarks held personally, not by the entity.
• A cap table that doesn't reconcile, or a seller who can't produce clean ownership documents.
• Reluctance to open a proper data room or to allow independent verification.

FAQ

How do I trust Russian revenue from abroad? Insist on a bank-statement reconciliation with an English report — this is exactly what the Bank Verified process provides.

Does the platform hold my money? No. Settlement is peer-to-peer between you and the founder; x100base does not touch deal funds. See the verification rules for what each badge means, and browse the catalog to see verified deals.

Do I still need lawyers? Yes — always engage local legal and tax counsel before closing.