What Is an Investment Teaser? M&A Examples & Template (2026)

You've decided to sell your company, or most of it. Or you need growth capital from a private equity fund. Either way, most buyers won't see your name or your deck first. They'll see a teaser: a short, anonymous summary of the deal. If it works, the right buyers sign an NDA and ask for more. If it doesn't, they move on to the next teaser in their inbox. Below we show what goes in one, real examples from public sales, and a free template you can fill in tonight.

An investment teaser is a short document that introduces a company for sale, or a stake on offer, to buyers. It's usually blind: it shows the sector, the size, the key numbers and the deal, but not the name. A teaser has one job. It gets the right buyers and investors to sign an NDA and ask for the full information memorandum, the CIM.

What goes in an investment teaser?

A good investment teaser covers six things. It opens with a one-line headline and what the business does. Then come three to five highlights, a short financial summary, the deal on offer and the next step. A buyer should be able to judge fit in minutes. Nothing on the page should give away who you are.

Here's each section, what it says and an example line. The examples come from Project Atlas, a fictional payroll software company we'll use throughout.

Notice what's missing: the company's name, its logo, its customers and its address. Most M&A teasers also leave out the asking price. In a competitive sale, the bids set the price.

Exact numbers can give you away too, so many teasers use ranges. Say your revenue last year was $15.2M. Write $14M–$16M, and give the exact figure in the CIM once the NDA is signed. IMAP, a mid-market M&A advisory group, lists a revenue and EBITDA range among a teaser's usual contents.

What buyers say they want

In 2024, the deal platform Axial asked the investors and acquirers on its platform what makes a good teaser. Three answers stand out.

The same buyers listed the misses they see most. One said a market-size claim loses him straight away. Others flagged pages of industry background and projections that crowd out the track record. Several asked for two things sellers often skip: why the owner is selling, and whether they'll stay after the deal. Put both in.

Charts earn their space too: 83% of the buyers called them somewhat or always important. One clean revenue chart usually does the job.

Investment teaser template (free Word download)

Most blind teasers run one or two pages. A code name sits at the top, then a one-line headline and a short overview. Next come three to five highlights, a small financial table, the deal and how to reply. Our free investment teaser template follows that order. Fill in the brackets, then run the checks on page two.

Here's the same template as a table, with what to check on each line.

What do real investment teasers look like? (examples)

Real teasers are hard to find, because most are confidential. The best public examples come from sellers who must announce a sale anyway, like listed companies and governments. Below are two named teasers you can read in full. Then we show what a teaser looks like when the deal is a growth raise.

A listed company sells a stake: Petrobras, 2021

Brazil's state-controlled oil company, Petrobras, publishes the teasers for its asset sales. In October 2021 it announced the sale of its stake in MP Gulf of Mexico, a joint venture with Murphy Oil. The teaser went on its investor website. It names everything: the seller, the 20% stake, the oil fields and the Barclays bankers running the sale.

Three things are worth copying. It opens with five investment highlights. A table then shows all 14 fields, with Petrobras's share and its production. And the next step is plain: register interest by 8 November, sign a confidentiality agreement, then enter the data room.

It also does two things most private teasers don't. It sets entry rules: a fund, for example, needed at least $1 billion under management to take part. And it flags a deal risk up front. The joint-venture partner had a right of first refusal. Saying so early saves everyone time. Petrobras keeps a public library of its teasers if you want more examples.

A state privatisation: Kyiv's Bilshovyk plant, 2021

In July 2021, KPMG prepared a named teaser for Ukraine's State Property Fund. On offer was 100% of First Kyiv Machine-Building Plant, better known as Bilshovyk. The teaser barely mentions machinery. It sells the land: more than 30 hectares near central Kyiv, with a plan for offices and homes.

It's honest about the likely strings attached, too. A buyer would keep one factory running for three years. They'd also honour the staff agreement and pay off the tax debt. Less than four months later, three bidders competed at a public auction. The winning bid was UAH 1.429 billion (State Property Fund). That beat the starting price by about UAH 40 million. The lesson: lead with what the buyer is really paying for.

Teasers in a growth raise

When the deal is new money rather than a sale, the teaser is often a short deck. It goes out first, and the full deck follows when an investor wants more. Here's what we prepared for two Series A rounds.

Both rounds closed, and the $18M round came in at 3.6x the client's first target.

Here's how the two public M&A investment teasers compare with a typical blind one.

Where does an M&A teaser fit in a sale?

The teaser opens the sale. Buyers who like it sign an NDA and get the CIM. The serious ones send first offers, meet the management team and dig into the data room. Then one buyer signs a letter of intent and moves to due diligence. Fewer buyers stay in at every step, so the first filter matters.

A sale works like a funnel, and the teaser sits at the wide end. Morgan & Westfield, a US firm that sells small and mid-sized businesses, gives these numbers for a typical deal.

Say 50 buyers show interest in your teaser. On those numbers, only 1–3 of them send a letter of intent. You don't need all 50 to love it. You need the right 20 or so to sign the NDA and read the CIM. That's why a teaser has to filter as well as sell. IMAP warns that a vague teaser draws plenty of interest, but from the wrong buyers.

Two timing tips. Finish the CIM before the teaser goes out, so you can reply the day an NDA comes back. IMAP notes that CIM work usually starts before the teaser is sent. And send the teaser to all your buyers in the same week, so their offers arrive together. Competing offers are your best argument in a negotiation.

When the data room opens depends on the process. In a run auction, shortlisted buyers usually see it after their first offers (IMAP). In a smaller sale with one buyer at a time, it often opens after the letter of intent (Morgan & Westfield). Either way, build it early. Our data room guide shows how, and our due diligence checklist lists what buyers ask for. For the whole journey, from deciding to sell to closing, read how to sell your startup.

How is a teaser different from a CIM?

A teaser is short, usually anonymous and sent to many buyers before any NDA. A CIM is long, names the company and goes only to buyers who signed the NDA. The teaser asks one question: is this worth a closer look? The CIM gives a buyer enough to make a first offer.

The two must tell one story with the same numbers. Buyers read them side by side, then check both against the data room. IMAP's guide, published in 2026, lists mismatches between the three among the common mistakes. For what goes in the long document, see our CIM example and template.

Raising from VCs rather than selling? There, the short document is usually an investor one-pager, and it works differently. Our tear sheet examples cover those.

How long should a teaser be?

It depends on who's selling. Boutiques and most training guides say 1–2 pages. Some banks send a 5–10 page executive summary instead. Public sellers go longer still, because they add entry rules and legal disclaimers.

Our rule of thumb: if it won't fit on two pages, it's turning into the CIM. Cut until every line helps a buyer decide whether to sign the NDA.

Should your teaser be blind or named?

A blind teaser describes the business without naming it. It uses a code name, a region instead of a city and ranges instead of exact numbers. Most private sellers go blind to protect their staff, customers and negotiating position. A named teaser makes sense when the sale is already public, as with listed companies and state sales.

Why go blind? News of a sale travels fast. Key staff start looking for new jobs. Big customers worry about renewing. Competitors learn who your key accounts are. Suppliers may push for better terms. Kimberly Advisors, a boutique M&A firm, lists all of these among the risks of a leak.

A named teaser works when there's little left to hide. Listed companies and governments often have to announce a sale anyway. It can also suit a short list of trade buyers who will only engage if they know who you are. That's often the case when the brand is what's for sale.

How do you make a teaser blind?

Start by listing what makes you easy to spot. Say you run a drone inspection company in Aberdeen, and two wind farm operators are your biggest customers. "A drone inspection firm in Scotland" practically names you. "A UK provider of specialist inspection services for energy assets" doesn't, and it still tells a buyer what matters.

Then test it. Give the teaser to someone who knows your industry but not your plans, and ask them to guess who it is. If they can, blur more. Check the file as well: a PDF can carry your name, or your company's, in its author field.

How do you write an investment teaser?

Write the CIM and the financial model first, then cut them down. In our work on 50+ M&A transactions, the best teasers open with one plain sentence. Three to five highlights follow, each with a number. Add a short financial summary, the deal and the next step. Then remove anything that names you, and check every figure against the CIM.

1. Build the CIM and the model first — the teaser is the short version of a story you've already worked out.
2. Know your buyers — trade buyers look for a fit with their business. Private equity looks for cash flow and a way to grow it.
3. Write the headline — what's for sale, plus the one number that makes it interesting.
4. Pick 3–5 highlights — each with a number a buyer can check in the data room later.
5. Add the financial summary — 3 years of history and this year's forecast, as ranges if you need them.
6. Spell out the deal — 100%, a majority, a minority or new money, why the owners are selling and who stays.
7. Make it blind, then test it — remove names and clues, then ask an insider to guess who it is.
8. Match every number to the CIM — buyers compare the two documents line by line.

Who writes an investment teaser?

Usually the seller's adviser: an investment bank, an M&A boutique or a business broker. Management supplies the facts, checks the numbers and signs off. The adviser sends the teaser and takes the replies, so buyers never contact the company directly. Some founders draft their own, but the CIM and the model still have to back it up.

Banks and M&A advisers rarely price the teaser on its own. It's part of preparing the sale, and our guide to M&A advisor fees explains how those mandates are paid. To compare firms, see the best M&A advisors for startups.

We prepare the teaser together with the CIM, the financial model and the valuation, so the numbers match everywhere. CIMs start from $10,000 and take 2–4 weeks. We also help you find potential buyers.

On one buy-and-build, we prepared the information memorandum, deck, model and valuation behind a lithium battery group's $20M acquisition financing. The group went on to complete two acquisitions (see the case). For the buyout of a US utility and power group with about $75M in revenue, we prepared the equity story and the CIM. The buyout was financed (see the case).