Your Data, Protected by Design

StartupForge Inc. ("StartupForge", "we", "our", or "us") operates the StartupForge platform — a marketplace where startup founders list their ventures and open roles, and collaborators (engineers, designers, and growth specialists) discover and apply to those opportunities.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard information about you when you visit startupforge.app (the "Site"), use our web application, or otherwise interact with our services (together, the "Services").

By creating an account or using our Services, you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services.

We collect information you provide directly, information collected automatically, and information from third-party sources.

• Account Information: When you sign up, we collect your name, email address, password (hashed securely), account type (founder or collaborator), and optional profile details such as your headline, bio, location, skills, and links to your portfolio or social profiles.
• Startup & Opportunity Data: Founders may provide startup names, descriptions, logos, founding stages, equity details, and open role listings. This content is displayed publicly to other registered users.
• Application & Interaction Data: Collaborator applications, cover letters, resumes or portfolio links, in-app messages between founders and collaborators, saved items, and usage interactions such as profile views and application status changes.
• Billing & Subscription Data: When you purchase a paid plan, our payment processor, Stripe, collects your payment card details and billing address. We store only limited billing records (plan, status, transaction references) — never your full card number.
• Technical Data: Device and browser type, IP address, operating system, referral source, pages visited, and timestamps of activity, collected through cookies and similar technologies.

We use the information we collect to operate, maintain, and improve the platform.

• To Provide the Services: Create and manage your account, list startups and opportunities, process applications, enable in-app messaging, and power search and discovery.
• To Process Payments: Facilitate subscriptions, invoicing, renewals, refunds, and fraud monitoring through our payment providers.
• To Personalize Your Experience: Recommend relevant opportunities and collaborators, remember preferences, and tailor content to your role.
• To Communicate With You: Send account notifications, application updates, product announcements, and service emails. We may send marketing communications only where permitted by law, and you can opt out at any time.
• To Keep the Platform Safe: Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, spam, and security incidents; enforce our Terms of Service; and comply with legal obligations.

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on the following legal bases to process your information:

• Contractual Necessity: Processing required to provide the Services you have requested under our Terms of Service.
• Legitimate Interests: Improving and securing the platform, preventing abuse, and delivering relevant communications, where our interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Consent: Where we rely on your consent (for example, for non-essential cookies), you may withdraw it at any time.
• Legal Obligation: Processing necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations.

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in the following limited circumstances:

• Within the Platform: Your public profile, startup listings, and opportunity details are visible to other registered users as necessary for the Services to function.
• Service Providers: Trusted vendors who help us operate — including Stripe (payment processing), cloud hosting, email delivery, analytics, and customer support. These providers are bound by contract to use your data only on our behalf.
• Legal & Safety Reasons: When required by law, subpoena, or court order, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of StartupForge, our users, or the public.
• Business Transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember preferences, and understand how the platform is used.

You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies may prevent you from signing in or using parts of the Services.

• Essential Cookies: Required for core functionality such as authentication and session management. These cannot be disabled.
• Preference & Analytics Cookies: Help us remember your theme choice and measure how users navigate the site so we can improve it.

We retain your information only as long as necessary to provide the Services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

• Account Data: Kept for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we remove or anonymize your personal data within a reasonable period, except where we must retain records for legal or accounting purposes.
• Billing Records: Retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
• Logs & Analytics: Maintained for a limited period to support security and platform improvement, then deleted or aggregated.

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including:

No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

• Encryption: Data transmitted between your browser and our servers is protected with TLS encryption. Passwords are hashed and never stored in plain text.
• Access Controls: Our team accesses user data only on a need-to-know basis, and all administrative access is authenticated and logged.
• Continuous Monitoring: We monitor for suspicious activity and security incidents, and we regularly review our security practices.

Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

To exercise any of these rights, email us at takebulislam@gmail.com. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

• Access & Portability: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Correction: Update inaccurate or incomplete information from your profile settings or by contacting us.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal data, subject to legal retention requirements.
• Restriction & Objection: Ask us to restrict processing or object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Marketing Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the link in the email or your notification settings.

StartupForge operates globally, and your information may be processed in countries other than the one you reside in. When we transfer data internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards, including standard contractual clauses, to ensure your data is protected to a comparable standard.

By using the Services, you consent to the transfer of your information to countries that may have different data protection laws than your own, subject to the safeguards described above.

The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us, and we will take steps to delete it.

Our Services integrate with third-party providers that operate under their own privacy policies:

• Stripe: Handles payment processing for subscriptions. Stripe's use of your payment data is governed by its own privacy policy at stripe.com/privacy.
• Analytics & Infrastructure: Cloud hosting, email delivery, and analytics vendors that process data on our behalf under data-processing agreements.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or the Services. When we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through a prominent notice on the platform.

The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. Your continued use of the Services after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please reach out:

• Email: takebulislam@gmail.com
• Mailing Address: StartupForge Inc., Pirojpur, Bangladesh & Global Remote
• Response Time: We aim to respond to all inquiries within 10 business days.