Partners Jacqueline Klosek and Omer Tene, counsel Federica De Santis, and associate Reema Moussa write for IAPP that as privacy and cybersecurity risks become more material to business operations, investors are no longer viewing data protection as a peripheral concern — they're treating it as a core indicator of a company's readiness to scale. For companies preparing to raise capital, how personal data is managed, secured and governed has become a critical factor in the investment calculus. Robust data practices can directly impact valuation, negotiation leverage and overall deal certainty. This is particularly true for companies in data-intensive industries, such as direct-to-consumer businesses, software as a service vendors, the burgeoning artificial intelligence space, and regulated entities in the financial or health care sectors. Preparing for a financing round demands more than polished pitch decks and optimistic revenue projections.