Top 10 Virtual Data Room Providers in Canada for Best VDR Services

Last Updated on December 17, 2020

Top 10 Virtual Data Room Providers in Canada – The purpose of this article is to help businesses in Canada choose from dozens of data room service providers in the world.

Fortunately, with the advancement of technology in recent years, a large number of key players have emerged to meet various business needs. Some providers use terminology and a breakdown of their own functions to slightly outperform their competition.

In order to make it easier for you to choose the best virtual data room service providers in Canada, we will carefully break down all of its features and compare them separately.

Top 10 Virtual Data Room Service Providers

1. iDeals

iDeals Virtual Data Room is a secure virtual data room solution used by more than 4,000 companies worldwide. The virtual data room solutions from iDeals are based on a continuous innovation approach, including constant R&D efforts, powerful cloud infrastructure, and instantly available customer services. With iDeals’ advanced document sharing technology and shatterproof security, dealmakers worldwide can fully comply with due diligence requirements.

  • Vendor: iDeals Solutions Group
  • Headquater: New York
  • Company size: 100-500 employees
  • Founded: 2008
  • Free Trial: 30 Days

2. Citrix

ShareFile VDR is a cloud-based data room appropriate for the deals executed by a variety of professional such as financial advisors, brokers, government contractors, biotech and bio-licensing companies, real estate firms, private equity firms, etc. ShareFile virtual data room is equipped with multi-level security system: the data is encrypted, the documents contain dynamic watermarks that prevent unauthorized dissemination, the access is allowed only on a basis of two-step verification.

  • Vendor: Citrix Systems
  • Headquater: Richardson
  • Company size: 5000-10000 employees
  • Founded: 1989
  • Free Trial: 14 Days

3. Datasite

DataSite is a powerful data sharing solution that streamlines the due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, disposals, IPO, or any transaction requiring a due diligence effort. These features from DataSite enable customers to complete faster, smarter, and better transactions. Explore how DataSite dramatically reduces transaction times and deal expense through the presentation of documents in the data room.

4. Box

  • Vendor: Datasite LLC
  • Headquater: Minneapolis
  • Company size: 500-1000 employees
  • Founded: 1968
  • Free Trial: 14 Days

Box Virtual Data Room is a secure content management and collaboration platform founded in 2005. Recently Box file introduced a virtual data room service with advanced security features, digital rights management, and convenient file storage system to upload contracts, financial statements, and other due diligence files. Multiple layers of protection keep business-critical information safe and secure while helping teams and enterprises across industries easily share, manage, and collaborate on their most important information from anywhere, on any device.

  • Vendor: Box, Inc.
  • Headquater: Redwood
  • Company size: 1000-5000 employees
  • Founded: 2005
  • Free Trial: 3 Days

5. CapLinked

CapLinked offers its customers a simple 4-step scheme of operation. At first, a client uploads large volumes of highly confidential corporate documents to the virtual platform. Then potential and current partners are invited and segregated according to the relevant level of data disclosure: digital rights management enables the room administrator to control the information disclosure in addition to full granular control of the access to the data.

  • Vendor: CapLinked
  • Headquater: Manhattan Beach
  • Company size: 10-100 employees
  • Founded: 2009
  • Free Trial: 7 Days

6. Intralinks

Intralinks is a global technology provider of secure content management and collaboration solutions. Founded in 1996, Intralinks enables the exchange, control, and management of information between organizations through their virtual data room and deal space solutions, suitable for data sharing inside and outside of the corporate firewall. The company’s key product, Intralinks VIA, supports strategic collaboration solutions for a range of industries, including financial services, life sciences, technology, and manufacturing.

  • Vendor: Intralinks Holdings, Inc.
  • Headquater: New York
  • Company size: 500-1000 employees
  • Founded: 1996
  • Free Trial: 30 Days

7. BlackBerry Workspaces

BlackBerry Workspaces provides secure mobile solutions for data sharing and distribution with its virtual data room that enables users to more easily collaborate as it increases their productivity. Uniting data-centric security with a user-friendly experience Blackberry Workspaces applies security and advanced digital rights management (DRM) to documents going from your preferred enterprise content repositories to multiple destinations within and outside your organization, including web, desktop, and mobile.

  • Vendor: BlackBerry Limited
  • Headquater: Palo Alto
  • Company size: 1000-5000 employees
  • Founded: 2007
  • Free Trial: 7 Days

8. Brainloop

Brainloop Secure Dataroom is an advanced virtual workspace with complete security architecture, global 24/7 availability via a web browser, and its own apps for tablets. Brainloop ensures secure collaboration in a transparently secure online workspace while delivering end-to-end protection for confidential documents. Learn why enterprises worldwide use Brainloop for boardroom communications, research and development processes, legal work, and any other area where you need to share confidential documents.

  • Vendor: Brainloop AG
  • Headquater: Munich
  • Company size: 100-500 employees
  • Founded: 2000
  • Free Trial: 7 Days

9. SmartRoom

SmartRoom provides its virtual data room services for numerous business areas, such as capital markets, legal solutions, corporate exchange. Secure document hosting and sharing among partners, convenient management of sensitive corporate information, confidential discussion of the data directly within the platform – all these features attract deal-makers (investment bankers, private equity managers, etc.) and make them look for the most protected, efficient, functional and convenient VDR available.

  • Vendor: SmartRoom
  • Headquater: Los Angeles
  • Company size: 100-500 employees
  • Founded: 1998
  • Free Trial: –

10. Dropbox

Dropbox is a famous online file-sharing center where users can store, share, and download data and documents. In some ways, Dropbox has reorganized the ways people manage their files. Features that make Dropbox a popular solution, are the ease of use, the possibility to quickly log in, and share their data with anyone. It also provides some free storage space, so many individuals prefer Dropbox to other cloud providers.

  • Vendor: Dropbox, Inc.
  • Headquater: –
  • Company size: 1000-5000 employees
  • Founded: –
  • Free Trial: –

Virtual Data Rooms: Understanding the Concept and Terms

A virtual data room common commonly known as a VDR is a secure online space that acts as a repository for company records. VDRs allow users to share critical business information with customers, investors, and business executives over the Internet in a controlled environment. VDRs improve companies’ due diligence processes and dramatically reduce paperwork, reducing overhead, clutter and waste.

The virtual data room has evolved to become a tool to help the entire deal course. Apart from M&A, companies use virtual data room software for such deals as loan syndication, private equity, and venture. Many industries use virtual data rooms, including the following ones:

  • Biotech
  • Business Brokers
  • Accounting
  • Investment Banking
  • Loan Advisers
  • Real Estate
  • Energy
  • Legal
  • Government
  • Consulting
  • Media
  • Pharmaceutical
  • Venture Capital
  • Manufacturing
  • IT and Telecommunications
  • Healthcare
  • Financial Advisers

Peculiarities of Virtual Data Room Services in Canada

Despite a significant downturn in business activity due to the COVID-19 lockdown, many companies in Canada have continued to engage in various types of mergers and acquisitions. All of these deals are now taking place online. This means that special software is used to hold them.

The optimal software to have such deals and related due diligence processes in Canada is virtual data room software. The popularity of this software is explained by the benefits that virtual data rooms offer:

Enterprise-level of security for a secure virtual data roomConfidential data protection with a limited viewing mode, remote shred following downloading of the data, watermarks, etc.
Speed and availability from any location and deviceA VDR’s transfer speed and the design of infrastructure ensures that files are uploaded safely, while the downtime of collaboration is low.
Flexible document and file managementDragging and dropping of selected files or uploading files of any format in bulk, automated index numbering and full text search for simple navigation allow users to upload, delete, merge, move, view, download, restore, and rename files and folders easily.
Ease of useOnline rooms to store data offer a single sign-on, multilingual access with mobile user interface and native apps (iOS, Android) to work with files from any device. 
Granular access settingsSingle or bulk invitations for users (separately or in groups) with detailed user permissions and customizable user notifications makes VDRs simple for use for companies of any size. 
User activity and actions-with-files reportsEverything that users do in the data room is recorded for admins to easily generate a variety of reports and track all changes undergone by the data.
Distributed work with filesModern online rooms combine a set of built-in collaborative tools: frequently asked question segments, real-time discussion, the tools to allocate questions across experts with question status added, educational tools, etc. 
Appearance settings Logo, company branding, header and footer, theme colors along with watermarks and automatic translation make VDR an easy-to-navigate workspace for any team member. 
Compliance with international security policiesISO 27001:2013, SOC2, Microsoft Secure Development Lifecycle, OWASP: these standards make VDR a reliable space to store important data.

How to Choose the Right Virtual Data Room Service Provider in Canada?

There are lots of online data repositories available, and it may be tricky for you to determine which one to choose for your business. Here are some helpful tips to help you get the most out of your data room.

  • You will need to read the best virtual data room reviews and find out more about how you can use a reliable VDR in your particular industry or project.
  • The virtual data room providers should have experience in your industry or be suitable for the type of deals you intend to close.
  • Online data room providers should have a clear and concise Service Level agreement (SLA) on data security and data room uptime.
  • Data room features. You can use the above-mentioned list of features to assess the provider. Alternatively, you can check the comparison table of providers on our site.
  • The cost of using the VDR (regardless of its type be it cloud-based or an on-premise solution) and ROI of using an online data room should be clear for your business.
  • The quality of the provider’s support service should be very high. Among the indicators of the support service’s quality are the responsiveness and speed of reaction of customer care teams.
  • It is advisable to select a provider that has experience in many complex financial transactions, including M&A and IPOs.
  • Last but not the least, it is important to choose a data room service that allows you free trial. Never buy a one-year or six-month subscription without using the provider’s free trial. Typically, VDR providers offer a one-month free subscription, 60-day trial, or 3-month free trial. The length of the free trial may vary depending on the provider.

Common Cases of Using Data Rooms

Virtual data rooms are widely used by companies that need to work with large volumes of documents, control the level of access to each document, and ensure continuous and secure collaboration. To help you understand how this works, we have rounded up the most common cases below;

  • Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and due diligence: for incorporation documents; corporate bylaws; stock option agreements and plans; recapitalization or restructuring documents; income, sales, and other tax returns filed in the last five years; tax sharing and transfer pricing agreements; patents; copyrights; trademarks; licenses and licensing agreements… In total there could be more than 50 documents.
  • Fundraising: for CVs of each founder and any key members; business description; pitch deck; information deck; business model deck; financial model (P&L, business plan, funding, exit strategy); marketing plan; warranties; due diligence documents; etc.
  • Initial public offering (IPO): for listing application form; approved prospectus; audited annual reports and financial statements; certificate of incorporation; memorandum and articles of association; due diligence documents; etc.
  • Real estate deals: for income details documents; mortgage discharge authority form; certificate of title; closing disclosure; additional documents for refinancing / first home buyers / investors / construction loan / home owners; etc.
  • Life science documents: for case report forms (CRFs); informed consent forms; patient diaries / recruitment materials / reported outcome measures / source documents; pharmacological studies and protocols; medical devices documents; regulatory affairs; etc.

Benefits of Using Virtual Data Room Software

An even more complete list of advantages is detailed:

  • Secure data storage
  • Fast data organization and transmission
  • Achieve better control over information
  • 24/7 accessibility anywhere with an internet connection
  • Glean helpful feedback and analytics
  • Better accountability measures
  • Efficient, non siloed collaboration
  • Get deals and projects done faster

As we mentioned earlier, the number of corporate transactions in Canada market remains unchanged despite the lockdown. Businesses of all sizes use virtual data rooms to close deals or store sensitive documents because of their security, control, predictability, and ease of use.

All these options have made virtual data rooms widely used and praised as a handy tool to facilitate deals in Canada.


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