DUE DILIGENCEMay 1, 2025 · 8 min read

Startup Due Diligence Checklist India (2025)

Most startup fraud in India isn't sophisticated — it relies on investors skipping basic checks. This 10-step checklist covers every layer of verification that a thorough pre-investment review requires. TruthDeck automates most of it, but understanding each step helps you ask the right questions even when a score looks good.

MCA21 registry check

Search the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal (mca.gov.in) for the company's CIN. Verify the company is active, not struck off or under dormancy. Check the date of incorporation against the founding date the startup claims. Discrepancies here are a hard stop.

Funding verification on Crunchbase and Tracxn

Every legitimate funding round leaves a trail — Crunchbase entry, investor LinkedIn announcements, press coverage, and sometimes a SEBI filing. If a startup claims to have raised ₹10 Cr but you can find no corroborating evidence on any of these platforms, treat the claim as unverified.

Founder background verification

Search founders on LinkedIn and verify employment history matches what they claim. Check if previous companies they founded are still active on MCA. Look for academic credentials via university search tools. A founder with fabricated history is a major red flag regardless of how compelling the pitch is.

News and press coverage audit

Google "<Startup Name> fraud", "<Startup Name> lawsuit", "<Startup Name> scam", and "<Startup Name> controversy". Legitimate startups will have some critical coverage — that's normal. What's suspicious is either zero coverage (for a startup claiming significant scale) or a pattern of complaints.

App Store and Play Store check

If the startup claims a consumer product, find it on the App Store and Play Store. Verify the developer name, download count (visible as a rough band on Android), and review sentiment. An app with 100K claimed users but only 500 Play Store downloads warrants explanation.

Domain and website age verification

Use who.is or a WHOIS lookup to check domain registration date. A startup claiming to have been operating since 2018 with a domain registered in 2023 needs to explain the gap. Also check whether the website contains real, original content or is templated and thin.

Revenue and metric cross-referencing

GMV, ARR, and user numbers are easy to fabricate. Cross-reference claimed metrics against employee count (LinkedIn), office presence, app store downloads, and any available filing data. A startup claiming ₹100 Cr GMV with 8 employees and a co-working desk address requires scrutiny.

Investor reference checks

If named investors are listed, contact them directly or via mutual connections to confirm the investment. Check their LinkedIn for any mention of the startup. A "strategic angel investor" who has no digital presence and hasn't confirmed the investment is a ghost investor.

Legal and regulatory standing

Depending on sector, check for RBI approvals (FinTech), SEBI registration (investment platforms), FSSAI license (FoodTech), or drug licenses (HealthTech). Regulated startups operating without required licences are a compliance liability you inherit at the cap table.

Team page verification

Reverse-image-search team photos. Confirm that "advisory board" members are aware they are listed. Check LinkedIn profiles of the core team for tenure consistency — high turnover at a Series A stage is worth asking about. A large claimed team with no matching LinkedIn footprint is suspicious.

How TruthDeck automates this checklist

TruthDeck runs steps 1–7 automatically for every startup in its database, aggregating signals from MCA, Crunchbase, Google News, App Store, Wikipedia, and the startup's own website. The result is a TruthScore from 0–100 — a single number that reflects how verifiable the startup's public presence and claims are.

For steps 8–10 (investor references, regulatory checks, team verification), TruthDeck surfaces the raw signals so you can complete the check yourself. A score above 75 means the automated checks passed — it doesn't replace human judgement on the qualitative steps.

You can search any Indian startup at truthdeck.xyz, or browse by sector — FinTech, SaaS, AI, EdTech, HealthTech.

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