Confidentiality and security
Who sees what,
and when.
Each step shares a little more, only when you take it
Enforced in the databaseEvery fund whose mandate fits
Anonymous profile: industry, size bands, timing
Funds you invite
A teaser and your confirmed figures
Funds that accept terms
Your name, website and the standard data room
Clean teams, if a fund owns a competitor
Customers, contracts, pricing, pay
Funds you shortlist
Your contact email
Stage by stage
Nothing about you moves until you decide it should.
What is shared widens only when you take a step: forwarding a buyer email, listing your company, asking for a price, inviting a fund, shortlisting it.
- 01
Your inbox
What is shared
If you forward: only the emails you forward to Garde. In the Gmail and Outlook pilot: for new email from people you've never written to, the sender, the subject and whether it's a mailing list, and the full text only of buyer emails.
Who can see it
Only Garde's automatic check, which files buyer emails for you. No fund, buyer or other user sees your email.
- 02
Buyer emails in Garde
What is shared
The emails, the firms they come from and any criteria those firms share
Who can see it
Only you. No fund, buyer or other user can see them.
- 03
Your listing
What is shared
Industry, size bands (not exact figures), sale timing and a fit reason
Who can see it
Each fitting fund's Ryo; the fund's people see this anonymous profile only.
- 04
Price check
What is shared
Your confirmed figures, priced by each fund's model
Who can see it
Each fund's Ryo, to compute its quote. No fund learns who you are.
- 05
Invitation
What is shared
An anonymous teaser and your confirmed figures
Who can see it
Only funds you invite, before they accept.
- 06
After a fund accepts
What is shared
Your company's name, website, description, figures and standard data room
Who can see it
Only funds that accepted confidentiality terms and declared whether they own a competitor.
- 07
Sensitive files
What is shared
Customers, contracts, pricing and compensation
Who can see it
Invited funds; a fund that owns a competitor only through a clean team.
- 08
Shortlist
What is shared
Your contact email, for management meetings
Who can see it
Only the funds you shortlist.
How it’s enforced
Protections built into the system.
Access rules in the database
Each user can read only what the rules above allow. Funds' pricing rules are readable only by the server, never by owners or other funds.
Private storage, logged downloads
Files sit in private storage and are handed out only through short-lived links. Every data-room download, including every file a fund's Ryo reads, appears in the owner's log.
Encrypted, limited, logged
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest with our providers. Costly actions are rate-limited, the site runs a strict content security policy, and every action is recorded in an audit log users can't alter.
One data room, three people asking
IllustrativeYou, the owner
every file
- FY25 audited financials.pdf
- Lease agreement.pdf
- Customer list.xlsx
- Payroll summary.xlsx
Invited fund
accepted terms
- FY25 audited financials.pdf
- Lease agreement.pdf
Any other fund
not invited
The database returns only the rows each person may read. Hidden rows never reach the page.
What we never do
Lines Vendu doesn’t cross.
- NeverTell a fund who you are before you invite it.
- NeverSend a reply to a buyer without your approval.
- NeverSay or suggest your company is for sale.
- NeverShow one fund another fund's bids or model.
- NeverLet AI set a price. Every price is computed in code.
- NeverSell your information or show advertising.
AI and your data
Where AI is used, and what it sees.
AI models read your documents to extract figures and flag add-backs, read funds’ mandates to judge fit, sort your buyer emails, and read data-room files for the funds you invite. To do that, the relevant text is sent to our AI provider, Anthropic, as described in our privacy policy.
AI never decides a price, never contacts anyone, and never changes a fund’s model without a person approving it.
Text inside documents and emails is treated as untrusted: instructions hidden in a document are ignored.
You can delete any file you uploaded, your Garde address and everything in it, or your whole account, at any time. Buyer email text in Garde is deleted automatically after 90 days.
Our terms of use and privacy policy are drafts under legal review.
Private by default.
Start with Garde. Nothing is shared without your approval.