AgFunder is committed to respecting the privacy of our members and subscribers. This document describes our practices regarding the collection, use and sharing of your personal data across our platform of http://www.agfunder.com and http://www.agfundernews.com (our websites) and other sites we may own and operate.
Log data
When you visit our websites, our servers may automatically log the standard data provided by your web browser. This data is considered “non-identifying information”, as it does not personally identify you on its own. It may include your computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, your browser type and version, the pages you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on each page, and other details.
We may also collect data about the device you are using to access our websites. This data may include the device type, operating system, unique device identifiers, device settings, and geo-location data. What we collect can depend on the individual settings of your device and software. We recommend checking the policies of your device manufacturer or software provider to learn what information they make available to us.
Personal information
We may ask for personal information, and depending on the service being offered, this information may include your:
We only collect information by lawful means, with your knowledge and consent. We also let you know why we’re collecting it and how it will be used. You are free to refuse our request for this information, with the understanding that we may be unable to provide you with some of our services without it.
We may use a combination of identifying and non-identifying information to understand who you are, how you use our websites and services, and how we may improve your experience of our websites in the future. We do not disclose the specifics of this information publicly, but may share aggregated and anonymised versions of this information, for example, in website and customer usage trend reports.
We may use your personal details to contact you with updates about AgFunder, our investment activities, portfolio companies and investment opportunities that may be made available to you as a member.
AgFunderNews subscribers will be sent our weekly newsletter and from time-to-time, promotional content that we believe may be of interest to you. If you wish to opt out of receiving any of this content, you can follow the “unsubscribe” instructions provided at the bottom of the email correspondence from us.
The personal information we collect is stored and processed in the United States, or where we or our partners, affiliates and third-party providers maintain facilities. We only transfer data within jurisdictions subject to data protection laws that reflect our commitment to protecting the privacy of our users.
For members and subscribers from the European Union, please note that personal information that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area.
We only retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide a service, or to improve our services in future. While we retain this data, we will protect it within commercially acceptable means to prevent loss and theft, as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. That said, we advise that no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and cannot guarantee absolute data security.
If you request your personal information be deleted, or where your personal information becomes no longer relevant to our operations, we will erase it from our system within a reasonable timeframe.
We use “cookies” to collect information about you and your activity across our sites. A cookie is a small piece of data that our websites stores on your computer, and accesses each time you visit, so we can understand how you use our sites. This helps us serve you content based on preferences you have specified. Please refer to our Cookie Policy for more information.
We use cookies to help improve your experience of our websites. This cookie policy forms part of our privacy policy, and covers the use of cookies between your device and our websites. We also information on third-party services we may use, who may also use cookies as part of their service, though they are not covered by our policy.
If you don’t wish to accept cookies from us, you should instruct your browser to refuse cookies from our websites, with the understanding that we may be unable to provide you with some of your desired content and services.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small piece of data that our website stores on your device when you visit, typically containing information about the website itself, a unique identifier that allows the site to recognise your web browser when you return, additional data that serves the purpose of the cookie, and the lifespan of the cookie itself.
Cookies are used to enable certain features like automated logging in, to track site usage with analytics, to store your user settings such as your time zone and notification preferences, and to personalise your content such advertising, particular interests and language.
Cookies set by our websites are normally referred to as “first-party cookies”, and typically only track your activity on our sites. Cookies set by other companies are called “third-party cookies”, and can be used to track you on other websites that use the same third-party service.
Types of cookies and how we use them
Essential cookies
Essential cookies are crucial to your experience of our websites, enabling core features like user logins and account management. We use essential cookies to enable certain functions on our websites.
Third-party cookies on our websites
We may use third-party analytics services such as Google Analytics to help us better understand your use of our websites. These third-party cookies collect information sent by your browser including cookies and your IP address. This information and their use of it is governed by their respective privacy policies.
How you can control or opt out of cookies
If you do not wish to accept cookies from us, you can instruct your browser to refuse cookies from our websites. Most browsers are configured to accept cookies by default, but you can update these settings to either refuse cookies altogether, or to notify you when a website is trying to set or update a cookie. If you browse websites from multiple devices, you may need to update your settings on each individual device.
Although some cookies can be blocked with little impact on your experience of our website, blocking all cookies may mean you are unable to access certain features and content that we offer.
Third-party access to information
We use third-party services for:
We may, from time to time, allow limited access to our data by external consultants and agencies for the purpose of analysis and service improvement. This access is only permitted for as long as necessary to perform a specific function. We only work with external agencies whose privacy policies align with ours.
We will refuse government and law enforcement requests for data if we believe a request is too broad or unrelated to its stated purpose. However, we may cooperate if we believe the requested information is necessary and appropriate to comply with legal process, to protect our own rights and property, to protect the safety of the public and any person, to prevent a crime, or to prevent what we reasonably believe to be illegal, legally actionable, or unethical activity.
We do not otherwise share or supply personal information to third parties. We will never sell, rent or otherwise distribute your personal information to marketers or third parties.
Use of LinkedIn User Data
If you choose to connect a LinkedIn profile to your AgFunder or AgFunderNews account, we will access certain information obtained from LinkedIn regarding your account. In particular we may store your name and email address as well as information on the particular profile you connect, including your contacts. This data will only be used by us to provide you with the service you expect and will not be shared with any third parties.
Our third-party privacy promise
We review the privacy policies of all our third-party providers before enlisting their services to ensure their practices align with ours. We will never knowingly include third-party services that compromise or violate the privacy of our users.
Children’s Privacy
AgFunder does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register with the Services. We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce our Privacy Policy by instructing their children never to provide personal information on this Site. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13, we will take steps to remove that information.
Limits of our policy
This privacy policy only covers AgFunder’s own collecting and handling of data. We only work with partners, affiliates and third-party providers whose privacy policies align with ours, however we cannot accept responsibility or liability for their respective privacy practices.
Our websites may link to external sites that are not operated by us. Please be aware that we have no control over the content and policies of those sites, and cannot accept responsibility or liability for their respective privacy practices.
At our discretion, we may change our privacy policy to reflect current acceptable practices. We will take reasonable steps to let you know about changes via our websites. If you are a registered member on http://www.agfunder.com or a subscriber to http://www.agfundernews.com, we will notify you using the contact details saved in your account. Your continued use of our sites after any changes to this policy will be regarded as acceptance of our practices around privacy, personal information and cookies.
As our member or subscriber, you have the right to be informed about how your data is collected and used. You are entitled to know what data we collect about you, and how it is processed. You are entitled to correct and update any personal information about you, and to request this information be deleted. You may amend or remove your account information at any time, by using the tools provided in your account control panel.
You are entitled to restrict or object to our use of your data, while retaining the right to use your personal information for your own purposes. You have the right to opt out of data about you being used in decisions based solely on automated processing.
Feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you wish to exercise any of these rights or have any concerns or questions about how we handle your data and personal information.
This policy is effective as of 24 May 2018.