Terms & Conditions | Startup World Cup

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains how Startup World Cup, Inc., Pegasus Tech Ventures, and their affiliates, subsidiaries, website operators, partners, investors, general partners, limited partners, and any other associated entities (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), collects, uses, discloses, and protects information obtained from individuals who interact with our global startup competition (the “Competition”), mentorship program, and related activities, including through our website (https://www.startupworldcup.io/) (“Website”), applications, and events (collectively, “Services”).

Please read this Policy carefully as it is legally binding when you interact with our Services. This Policy will help you make informed decisions about sharing your personal information with us. If you do not agree with our Policy as contained herein, do not use our Services. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by this Policy. This Policy may change from time to time in accordance with Section 8. Your continued use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check back periodically for updates.

The information and practices described herein are provided for general informational purposes and are not exhaustive. The items listed are intended as examples and should not be considered a complete or comprehensive list of all privacy practices, data collection methods, or disclosures that may apply. These practices may change or be supplemented as necessary, and additional data collection or processing practices may be implemented, including but not limited to those outlined in this policy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INFORMATION WE COLLECT
HOW WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION AND COOKIES
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
DATA SECURITY AND RETENTION
THIRD-PARTY LINKS AND SERVICES
YOUR CONTROLS AND CHOICES
UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
TERMS OF USE
CHILDREN
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS
CALIFORNIA DO NOT TRACK DISCLOSURES
PRIVACY RIGHTS UNDER THE EUROPEAN GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR)
TERMS
CONTACT US

Information We Collect

We collect various types of information to facilitate our programs while ensuring compliance with legal, security, and operational requirements.

A. Information You Provide

When you engage with our Services or use our Website, we collect personal identifiable information that alone or in combination with other information in our possession could be used to identify you. When you sign-up and apply for our Contest or our mentor program, we collect the following:

Name, email, phone number, job title, organizational affiliations, professional history and expertise, government-issued identification where legally required, and any other personal identifiable information that you provide to us (“Personal Information”).
Application Data: Submitted materials, including business proposals, pitch decks, and related content.
Participation Data: Interactions during events, surveys, networking activities, and video or audio recordings.
Mentorship Program Data: Information provided during mentor or mentee registration, including professional history and expertise.
Communication Data: Records of interactions with us, including emails, support inquiries, and customer service communications.
Legal Compliance Data: Any documentation or verification required to meet applicable laws and regulations.

B. Information We Automatically Collect

When you visit our Website or participate in our programs, we collect:

Technical Data: IP address, browser type, device information, operating system, and geolocation data where permissible.
Usage Data: Pages visited, event interactions, and general engagement patterns.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies: Used to enhance user experience, prevent fraud, and analyze site traffic. Users may manage cookie preferences where applicable.

C. Information from Third Parties

From time to time, we may obtain information about you from third parties in connection with the Competition or our mentorship program, such as:

Event sponsors or partners involved in our programs, subject to contractual obligations.
Social media platforms based on your engagement with our content.
Public sources such as business directories, regulatory filings, and startup databases.
Third-party service providers, including analytics providers, security vendors, and advertising networks.

D. Information We Collect During Events

We may collect, share, and use personal information about you in connection with any in-person events (such as our Competition or a pitch-event, seminar, conference, or other physical gatherings) that we organize, participate in, or sponsor, as well as any related websites, social networking features, or mobile apps.

2. How We Collect Your Information and Cookies

A. Cookies are small files transferred to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser (with your consent) by a website or its service provider. These cookies enable the site to recognize your browser, capture specific information, and remember certain details. We utilize cookies to enhance service delivery, simplify user interactions with our Website, track usage patterns, collect data, and address security concerns. Upon accessing our Website, we send cookies to your device, which stores them in a file within your web browser. These cookies help us monitor your visits, activity, and interactions on our Websites to improve your experience.

B. You can generally activate or later deactivate the use of cookies through a functionality built into your web browser. Please note that removing or deactivating cookies can impact your user experience on our Website, including limiting the functionality of certain features.

C. We collect information through technology such as cookies (which are information stored on your computer by your browser to save your preferences while you are visiting a particular website) and web beacons (small pieces of data that are embedded in images on the pages of website) when you visit our Website. This tracking data is used for many purposes including, for example, to provide useful features to simplify your experience when you return to our Website; deliver relevant content based on your preferences, usage patterns and location; monitor and evaluate the use and operation of our Website; and to analyze traffic on our Website and the platforms of third parties. We may associate this tracking data with your registration account or the like, in which case we will treat it as Personal Information. Service providers that collect tracking data on our behalf may provide an opportunity for you to choose not to be tracked online. For more information about cookies and web beacons, please visit our Website and email info@startupworldcup.io.

D. If you choose, you can set your browser to reject cookies or you can manually delete individual or all the cookies on your computer by following your browser’s help file directions. In addition, you can always opt-out of receiving certain ads or communications.

3. How We Use Your Information

We only use your information as permitted under applicable law. We use collected information for the purposes described in this Policy, including using your information to:

Administer and manage our Competition, mentor program and other programs in connection with the Services, including participant evaluation, event coordination, mentorship matching, and any other Services in connection with the Website.
Present our Website and its contents to you.
Ensure compliance with legal, security, and contractual obligations.
Communicate with you, including sending updates, invitations, and legally required notices.
Enhance participation experiences, including networking and program engagement.
Prevent fraud and monitor security, including authentication and access control.
Improve and analyze our offerings, services, and platform performance.
To share with third-party service providers who monitor and analyze your use of our services.
Support the broader startup ecosystem, including fostering connections among industry stakeholders.
Comply with data retention policies and legal mandates.
Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide Personal Information.
We may collect aggregated statistical information for purposes of improving our services. This data does not contain Personal Information, such as name or email address. An example might be location data, mouse movements or links clicked that might be used to improve our user experience.

4. How We Share Your Information

Personal Information about our users is important to us and we are not in the business of selling this Personal Information to others. We share customer Personal Information only as set forth below herein: However, we share or may share information in the following circumstances:

Internal Process/Employees. We allow a limited number of employees to have access to your Personal Information. These employees are trained on our security practices and are deeply committed to maintaining your privacy. They are authorized to access your account information on an “as-needed” basis to provide technical support, or at your request.
Affiliates. We may share Personal Information we collect from you with our affiliates or subsidiaries that are either subject to this Privacy Policy or that follow practices that are at least as restrictive as those described in this Privacy Policy.
Service Providers. We may disclose Personal Information we collect from you to service providers, including those assisting with the Competition (judges, selection committees, and advisory panels), Competition sponsors and partners, mentors and our startup applicants in the Competition, event hosting, payment processing (if applicable), cybersecurity, and data analytics, and other parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep Personal Information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
Sale or Transfer of Business. We may also disclose to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Information held by us about our Users is among the assets transferred.
Exceptions to Sharing Information. Exceptions to sharing your Personal Information include when the User provides direct permission, or when it is required with the law or with legal processes.
- Law Enforcement. We may report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we reasonably believe to be unlawful, or that we reasonably believe may aid a law enforcement investigation into unlawful activity. In addition, we reserve the right to release your information to law enforcement agencies if we determine, in our sole judgment, that either you have violated our policies, or the release of your information may protect the rights, property, or safety of us or another person.
- Legal Process. We may share your information with others as required by, or permitted by, law. This may include sharing your information with government entities, or third parties in response to subpoenas, court orders, other legal process, or as we believe is necessary to exercise our legal rights, to defend against legal claims that have been brought against us, or to defend against possible legal claims that we determine in our sole discretion might be brought against us.
Blogs and other Online Postings. We may decide to allow users to share messages, comments, postings, testimonials, personal web pages or profiles, or other interactive information. If you choose to submit such information to us, the information you submit may be available generally to the public. Please be aware that information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others who access them.

5. Data Security & Retention

We take all reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information in an effort to prevent loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information which may include: physical access controls, encryption, internet firewalls, intrusion detection and network monitoring depending on the nature of the information and the scope of processing. Our staff, who may have access to your personal information, are required to keep your personal information confidential. Please be aware though that, despite our best efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable and, therefore, we cannot guarantee that Personal Information will remain secure in all circumstances.

6. Third-Party Links & Services

We may link to third-party websites or applications in our Service, or on our Website. In those circumstances, the data we collect, use and disclose via the Website or the Service will be subject to this Policy. However, your use of the third-party websites, applications and any information you instruct us to send to the third-party (via clicking and accessing third-party websites or applications) will be subject solely to the third-party’s terms and conditions and their privacy policy and will not be subject to this Policy or our Website terms of use. Therefore, you should familiarize yourself with any applicable third-party privacy policy as needed. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party website, platforms or other services.

7. Your Control and Choices

We provide you with the ability to exercise certain controls and choices regarding our collection, use and sharing of your Personal Information. In accordance with your controls, your choices as stated in this Section:

You may correct, update and delete your registration account except as otherwise prohibited by the Website or us.
You may change your choices for subscriptions, newsletters, notifications and/or alerts.
You may choose whether to receive offers, promotions, newsletters, and other marketing and advertising messages from us.
You may choose whether we share your Personal Information with other companies so they can send you offers and promotions about their products and services.
You may choose whether to receive targeted advertising from many ad networks, data exchanges, marketing analytics and other service providers.
You may request access to the Personal Information we hold about you, including any Personal Information that we amend or delete.
You may set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent.

You may exercise your controls and choices, or request access to your Personal Information, by contacting us via email at info@startupworldcup.io, by updating your account, or by following instructions provided in communications sent to you. Please be aware that if you do not allow us to collect Personal Information from you, we may not be able to deliver certain services, to you and some of our services may not be able to take account of your interests and preferences. If you have questions regarding the specific Personal Information about you that we process or retain, please contact us at info@startupworldcup.io.

8. Updates to This Policy

Your use of our Website, including any dispute concerning privacy, is subject to this Privacy Policy and the applicable Terms of Use. BY USING OUR WEBSITE, YOU ARE ACCEPTING THE PRACTICES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET OUT IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND THE APPLICABLE TERMS OF USE. We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time by posting the changes on this page. Please check the “Last Updated On” date at the top of this page to determine if the Privacy Policy has been modified since you last reviewed it. Your continued use of any portion of our Website following posting of the updated Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of the changes.

9. Terms of Use

By engaging in any of our Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy and agree to be bound by our Terms of Use which can be found here: [insert hyper link]. Participation is subject to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

10. Children

We are committed to protecting the online privacy of children and making the internet safe. We do not provide services to children, or knowingly collect or solicit Personal Information from children under 13 years of age. Any communication we get that is identified as being from a child under 13 will not be kept by us. We encourage parents or guardians of children under 13 to regularly check and monitor their children’s use of email and other activities online. Further, you affirm that you are at least 18 years of age.

11. Notice to California Residents

If you are a California resident, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits you to request a notice regarding the disclosure of your Personal Information by us to other parties, including third parties. If you are a California resident and would like a copy of this notice, please contact us at info@startupworldcup.io.

12. California Do Not Track Notice Disclosures

We do not track our users and visitors over time and across third-party platforms to provide targeted advertising. Consequently, we do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. Other third-party platforms may keep track of your browsing activities when they provide you with content, which enables them to customize what they present to you on their platforms.

13. Privacy Rights Under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are a resident of the European Union (“EU”), United Kingdom (“UK”), and Switzerland you may have additional rights under the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) with respect to your Personal Data, as outlined below.

For this section, we use the terms “Personal Data” and “processing” as they are defined in the GDPR, but “Personal Data” generally means information that can be used to individually identify a person, and “processing” generally covers actions that can be performed in connection with data such as collection, use, storage and disclosure. We will be the controller (as defined in the GDPR) of your Personal Data processed in connection with the Services.

If there are any conflicts between this section and any other provision of this Privacy Policy, the policy or portion that is more protective of Personal Data shall control to the extent of such conflict. If you have any questions about this section or whether any of the following applies to you, please contact us at our listed contacted in Section 15. Note that we may also process Personal Data of our customers’ end users or employees in connection with our provision of certain services to customers, in which case we are the processor of Personal Data. If we are the processor of your Personal Data (i.e., not the controller), please contact the controller party in the first instance to address your rights with respect to such data.

A. Personal Data We Collect. The “Information We Collect” above in Section 1 details the data we collect from you.

B. Personal Data Use and Processing Grounds. We only process your Personal Data if we have a lawful basis for doing so. Lawful bases for processing include contractual necessity, legitimate interest, consent, or other processing grounds detail below.

Contractual Necessity. We process the following categories of Personal Data as a matter of “contractual necessity”, meaning that we need to process the data to perform under our Terms of Use with you, which enables us to provide you with the Services. When we process data due to contractual necessity, failure to provide such Personal Data will result in your inability to use some or all portions of the Services that require such data.

a. Profile or Contact Data

b. Identifiers

c. Commercial Data

d. Device/IP Data

e. Demographic Data

f. Professional or Employment-Related Data

g. Categories of Data Considered “Sensitive” Under the CCPA

h. Other Identifying Information that You Voluntarily Choose to Provide.

Legitimate Interest. We process the following categories of Personal Data when we believe it furthers the legitimate interest of us or third parties. Examples of legitimate interest include, but are not limited to providing, customizing, and improving our Services, marketing the services, corresponding with you, satisfying legal requirements, enforcing legal terms, completing corporate transactions, and other legitimate interests as permitted by law.

a. Profile or Contact Data

b. Identifiers

c. Payment Data

d. Commercial Data

e. Device/IP Data

f. Web Analytics

g. Demographic Data

h. Professional or Employment-Related Data

i. Categories of Data Considered “Sensitive” Under the CCPA

j. Other Identifying Information that You Voluntarily Choose to Provide

k. We may also de-identify or anonymize Personal Data to further our legitimate interests

Consent. In some cases, we process Personal Data based on the consent you expressly grant to us at the time we collect such data. When we process Personal Data based on your consent, it will be expressly indicated to you at the point and time of collection.

Other Processing Grounds. From time to time, we may also need to process Personal Data to comply with a legal obligation, if it is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or other data subjects, or if it is necessary for a task carried out in the public interest.

C. Disclosing Personal Data. The “How We Share Your Information” above in Section 4 details how and who we disclose your personal information.

D. EU, UK, and Swiss Data Subject Rights. Residents of the EU, UK, and Switzerland area are entitled to make requests regarding the processing and storage of their Personal Data. For more information about these rights, or to submit a request, please contact us at our listed contact information in Section 15. Please note that in some circumstances, we may not be able to fully comply with your request, such as if it is frivolous or extremely impractical, if it jeopardizes the rights of others, or if it is not required by law, but in those circumstances, we will still respond to notify you of such a decision. In some cases, we may also need you to provide us with additional information, which may include Personal Data, if necessary to verify your identity and the nature of your request.

a. Opt-out: You may request that we stop sending you direct marketing communications which you have previously consented to receive. We may continue to send you service-related and other non-marketing communications.

b. Access: You can request more information about the Personal Data we hold about you and request a copy of such Personal Data. You can also access certain of your Personal Data by logging on to your account.

c. Rectify: If you believe that any Personal Data we are holding about you is incorrect or incomplete, you can request that we correct or supplement such data.

d. Erasure: You can request that we erase some or all of your Personal Data from our systems.

e. Withdrawal of Consent: If we are processing your Personal Data based on your consent (as indicated at the time of collection of such data), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note, however, that if you exercise this right, you may have to then provide express consent on a case-by-case basis for the use or disclosure of certain of your Personal Data, if such use or disclosure is necessary to enable you to utilize some or all of our Services.

f. Portability: You may request we transfer a machine-readable copy of your Personal Data to you or a third party of your choice.

g. Objection: You may object to our reliance on our legitimate interests as the basis of our processing of your Personal Data t that impacts your rights.

h. Restriction: You can ask us to restrict further processing of your Personal Data.

i. Right to File a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint about our practices with respect to your Personal Data with the supervisory authority of your country or EU Member State. A list of Supervisory Authorities is available here.

E. Transfers of Personal Data. The Services are hosted and operated in the United States (“U.S.”) through us and our service providers, and if you do not reside in the U.S., laws in the U.S. may differ from the laws where you reside. By using the Services, you acknowledge that any Personal Data about you, regardless of whether provided by you or obtained from a third party, is being provided to us in the U.S. and will be hosted on U.S. servers, and you authorize us to transfer, store and process your information to and in the U.S., and possibly other countries. In some circumstances, your Personal Data may be transferred to the U.S. pursuant to a data processing agreement incorporating standard data protection clauses. Please note that the U.S. is not currently considered a safe harbor country under the GDPR.

F. GDPR. If you are interested in reviewing an English version of the GDPR, please see here.

G. Updates to this GDPR Section. We may update this GDPR section from time to time. Any changes will become effective upon posting of the revised GDPR section.

14. General Terms

A. Entire Agreement. This Privacy Policy and any documents expressly incorporated herein constitutes the entire agreement between you and us relating to this subject matter, and cancels and supersedes any prior versions of this Privacy Policy and any other prior or contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Website and Services. You may not assign, sublicense, delegate, or otherwise transfer this Privacy Policy or any right granted hereunder.

B. Headings. The headings and captions of this Privacy Policy are for convenience and reference only and in no way define, describe, extend, or limit the scope or intent of this contract, or the intent of any provisions hereof.

C. Severability. If any provision of this Privacy Policy is held invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason by any law or regulation of any government, or by any court or arbitrator, such provision shall be replaced with a new provision that accomplishes the original business purpose, or eliminated or limited to the minimum extent necessary, and the other provisions of this Privacy Policy will remain in full force and effect.

D. Electronic Communications. You consent to receive electronic communications from us either in the form of email sent to you at the email address listed on your account or by other electronic communication means posted on our Website. You acknowledge and agree that any electronic communication in the form of such email or posting on our Website shall satisfy any legal requirement that such communication be in writing.

15. Contact Us

For questions or concerns about this Policy, contact us via email at the following email address: info@startupworldcup.io.