Choosing the right platform when raising capital or navigating a sale can make or break your deal. Many startups start with Papermark because it’s lean and simple. But once you scale, deal processes get complex, and tools like DeelTrix begin to stand out. In this comparison, we’ll walk through every critical feature from permissions to analytics, showing how Papermark stacks up and why many teams are shifting to DeelTrix.
What Papermark Brings to the Table
Papermark is designed for founders who need to quickly send their pitch deck, track viewership, and get basic insight into which investors opened their materials. Its simplicity lies in letting users upload a document, generate a link, and share files without friction. The dashboard shows whether a file was viewed, but offers no deeper engagement metrics.
For early Fundraising rounds, Papermark’s ease of use is a strength: minimal setup, minimal learning curve, and instant access to your audience. But as the number of documents and stakeholders grows, limitations emerge. It lacks structured workflows for M&A, presentation share tools, robust analytics and data, and real duedilligence management features.
Core Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | Papermark | DeelTrix |
|---|---|---|
| VDR Setup & Structure | Simple link-based sharing, minimal folder and permission control | Full VDR with hierarchical folder permissions, role-based access, and flexible control |
| Fundraising Support | Basic deck-level tracking | End-to-end support: investor folders, version upgrades, scheduled updates |
| M&A / Mergers and Acquisitions Workflow | Not built for complex deals | Pipelines and task flows tailored for mergers and acquisitions, deal phases built in |
| Duedilligence Tracking | Basic view logs, limited checklist tools | Live duedilligence dashboards + added features (Platform Manager, One-Click Updates, Auto Q&A Routing) |
| Share Files Capabilities | Static links, limited expiry or permissions | One-click share files securely, control expiry, granular permissions, watermarking |
| Analytics and Data | Open/close counts only | Deep analytics and data: time-on-page, section view heatmaps, filters by user/document/time |
| Presentation Share | Link to download/view only | Interactive presentation share: disable download, time tracking per slide, access control |
| Collaboration & Communication | Minimal or none | Integrated Q&A, commenting, tasks inside the VDR environment |
| Scalability | Works well for small rounds | Designed to scale with larger rounds, multiple investors, and parallel M&A processes |
VDR Setup & Structural Flexibility
Papermark is attractive because of how fast it lets you “share files” — just upload and generate a link. But that comes at the cost of control. You don’t get fine folders, tiered permissions, or the flexibility to evolve as your transaction grows.
DeelTrix gives you a full VDR structure: set permissions at folder or file level, create user groups (investors, advisors, internal teams), and evolve room access as you move through M&A or Fundraising stages. That foundational flexibility makes DeelTrix far more future-proof for growing deals.
Fundraising Support & Investor Management
When raising capital, the ability to manage multiple investors, provide updates, issue revisions, and keep version integrity is crucial. Papermark allows the initial deck sharing, but beyond that, you’re on your own.
With DeelTrix, you can maintain investor-specific views, push updated versions to all investors, track which version they saw, and even notify only those who missed the change. That kind of control helps reduce confusion and friction during busy fundraising phases.
M&A / Mergers and Acquisitions Workflows
Papermark was never built for full-blown M&A. It doesn’t support deal phases, buyer pipelines, or parallel bidding processes elegantly. As multiple buyer groups request access or new document sets, handling it in Papermark can be chaotic.
DeelTrix, in contrast, has built-in support for mergers and acquisitions. You can manage multiple buyer tracks side-by-side, control when each group sees documents, and monitor progress across each pipeline. This ensures the seller team has clarity on where each buyer is in their evaluation.
Enhanced Duedilligence Tracking
Both Papermark and DeelTrix support dashboards that show progress in duedilligence. You can see open rates, document status, and which items are pending review.
What sets DeelTrix apart is its powerful extras: a Dedicated Platform Manager who helps you optimize the room, One-Click Update functionality to sync new document versions to both internal and external users, and Auto Q&A Routing that ensures investor questions are sent to the right internal stakeholders without manual juggling. These extras shrink response times and reduce friction.
Secure File Sharing (Share Files)
Papermark enables you to share files, but the options are basic. Permission control, expiry, or view-only modes may be limited or absent.
DeelTrix allows one-click share files with sophisticated control: you can set who sees what, impose expiry, watermark documents, restrict downloads, and even change permissions dynamically. This flexibility is critical in both fundraising and M&A when document versions evolve rapidly.
Unpacking Analytics and Data
Papermark offers basic analytics—how many times a deck was opened, who opened it—not much more.
DeelTrix gives you deep analytics and data: how long each investor spent on each page, which sections got skipped, filters by document or time window, trends over periods, and cohort analyses. These insights help you tailor follow-up conversations, refine your messaging, and prioritize high-intent investors or bidders.
Presentation Share & Engagement Control
When you want to show a pitch or update live, Papermark generally offers a static link—download or view only.
DeelTrix offers a presentation share mode where you can stream slides in-browser, disable downloads, track engagement per slide, and tightly control who can see what. During fundraising update calls or board reviews, these capabilities help you keep control while still being transparent.
Collaboration & Communication Inside the VDR
Papermark generally lacks native commenting or Q&A — most teams end up managing investor questions over email or spreadsheets.
DeelTrix embeds communication into the VDR: investors can ask questions directly, internal teams can comment or assign tasks, and you maintain a single source of truth instead of fragmented threads. For duedilligence, this reduces errors, clarifies responsibilities, and speeds responses.
Scalability for Growing Deals
Papermark is suited for lean rounds and small investor sets, but struggles when the document count, investor diversity, or complexity increases.
DeelTrix is built to scale — supporting large fundraising rounds, multiple buyer processes for mergers and acquisitions, shifting permissions over time, and heavier traffic. If your company plans to run many deals, DeelTrix is less likely to become a bottleneck.
Real-World Example: Startup Using Both
Suppose a tech startup begins by using Papermark to send their seed deck to a pool of investors. That works well initially. But as the round expands, they need to provide financials, legal docs, and regulatory compliance files. Papermark’s lack of structure creates confusion, version mix-ups, and no central oversight.
When they switch to DeelTrix, they reupload everything, reorganize into investor-specific folders, and control access. They use duedilligence tracking dashboards to monitor progress, use presentation share for live updates, and rely on analytics and data to see who is most engaged. Collaboration happens inside the platform, and they save hours coordinating versions and responses.
Why Many Teams Are Migrating
Teams that outgrow Papermark often cite lack of control, limited insights, duplication of effort, and collaboration pain. DeelTrix addresses these pain points by offering a unified, powerful environment built for modern fundraising and M&A workflows.
If your next round or transaction is more than just sending a deck, the difference becomes significant.
Final Thoughts
Papermark is an excellent entry-level tool for streamlined pitch deck sharing. But when you need control, insight, collaboration, and scale for mergers and acquisitions or larger fundraising rounds, DeelTrix outpaces it across every dimension. From structured VDR setup to analytics and data, from secure share files to integrated communication, DeelTrix is purpose-built to help founders and deal teams close faster, cleaner, and with confidence.
- Secure Sharing
- Document Analytics
- Watermarking
- Granular Access Control
Share investor decks securely with live updates, page analytics, and instant revocation controls.
Organize financials, contracts, and compliance docs in one secure room with audit trails.
Control sensitive contracts and regulatory files with watermarking and access restrictions.
Send proposals with engagement signals and track which sections prospects value most.
Distribute reports with visibility into reader activity and keep conversations in-platform.
