1. Who We Are
This policy is issued by PitchHub Ltd (company number 13688172), registered office at Alpha Works, 21st Floor, Alpha Tower, Suffolk Street Queensway, Birmingham B1 1TT (“PitchHub”, “we”, “us” or “our”), the operator of Vanelo (the “Platform”). PitchHub is the controller of personal data processed through the Platform for the purposes described in this policy, unless stated otherwise.
This policy explains what personal data we collect through the Platform, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to Founders, Investors, Advisors and Administrators, and to visitors to the Vanelo website.
Vanelo is used by people and businesses around the world. PitchHub is a UK company and applies the standards described in this policy, which are based on UK data protection law, to all users of the Platform wherever they are based. Section 9 explains your rights, including how to complain to a regulator if you are located in the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA).
2. Personal Data We Collect
We collect the following categories of information. Some of it is personal data about you; some is information about your business, which may also count as personal data where it identifies an individual (for example, a named founder, team member or investor contact) - see section 3.
Account and Identity Data
Name, email address, password, phone number, and your account role (Founder, Investor, Advisor or Administrator).
Business Information
Where you use Vanelo as a Founder: your Business's identity, location, industry, stage, product, market, traction, team, legal and IP position, and internationalisation details, together with Funding Round information such as funding type, stage, funding ask, valuation, previous raises, investor preferences and use of funds.
Documents You Upload
Files placed in the Deal Room or attached elsewhere in the Platform, which may include financial, legal, commercial or other information relating to your business, and may incidentally contain personal data about identifiable individuals if you choose to include it.
Investor Profile and Preference Data
Where you use Vanelo as an Investor: your name, location, investment stage preferences, ticket size range, preferred industries and sectors, and contact details, together with information you provide as part of the verification process.
Investor Information From Other Sources
The Investor Database and Automated Target List may include information about investors who have not registered on the Platform, such as name, organisation, role, investment focus and business contact details. We obtain it from publicly available sources and research by our team. We use it to help Founders identify relevant investors, relying on our legitimate interests (see section 4). Where we hold your information in this way, we will provide you with the information required by data protection law, normally within one month, and you can ask us to correct or remove it using the details in section 15.
Communications
Messages exchanged between Founders and Investors through the Platform, correspondence with Advisors in connection with Expert Support, and Help tickets and other support communications.
Payment and Billing Information
Billing details and a record of payments made for the Founder subscription, Showcase review or re-review fees, or Expert Support services. Card payment details are collected and processed directly by our payment provider; we do not store full card numbers.
Usage and Activity Data
Information generated by your use of the Platform, such as login activity, campaign views, shortlists, document access and permission events, pipeline and relationship activity in the Investor CRM, and general technical data (such as IP address, browser type and device information).
Cookies
Information collected using cookies and similar technologies, described further in our Cookie Policy.
3. Business Information and Personal Data
Vanelo is built around information about businesses and funding rounds, most of which is business or company information rather than personal data. Some of it will also be personal data where it identifies a living individual, for example where a Business profile names its founders or team, or where fundraising documents or messages refer to identifiable people. Where this policy refers to “personal data”, it includes business information of that kind to the extent it identifies an individual, in addition to information that is obviously personal (such as your own account details).
We ask that you do not upload special category personal data (such as health, biometric or similar sensitive information about identifiable individuals) into the Platform unless it is genuinely necessary and you have a lawful basis and any necessary consents to share it.
4. How We Use Your Information and Our Legal Basis For Doing So
We rely on the following legal bases under UK GDPR, depending on the activity:
- Performance of a contract with you - to create and administer your account, provide the features associated with your account type, process the Founder subscription and other fees, run the Investability Assessment and Valuation Range tools, operate the Deal Room, Investor Outreach, Showcase and messaging features, and arrange Expert Support.
- Our legitimate interests - to keep the Platform secure and working properly, prevent and investigate fraud or misuse, enforce our Terms of Use, understand how the Platform is used so we can improve it (using analytics cookies only with your consent where required), and produce aggregated or anonymised statistics, provided this does not override your own rights and interests.
- Legal obligation - to meet tax, accounting, regulatory or law enforcement requirements, and to respond to valid legal requests.
- Consent - for marketing communications you choose to receive, and for any non-essential cookies, each as described in sections 10 and 11.
Automated tools: The Investability Assessment, Valuation Range and Automated Target List use automated processing. The Investability Assessment uses the answers you give in its questionnaire. The Valuation Range uses information you provide and benchmark data held within the Platform. The Automated Target List matches Founders with Investors using structured criteria. These tools give scores, estimates and suggestions to help you. Investor verification outcomes (Pending, Verified or Rejected) are decided by an Administrator.
5. Who We Share Information With
We share personal data in the following circumstances:
- With other users, in line with your own choices - for example, an Investor's profile information visible to Founders through the Investor Database or Investor CRM, or a document you choose to share through the Deal Room or a Showcase campaign.
- With an Advisor, but only to the extent of the access a Founder has approved for a specific Expert Support engagement. The Advisor is responsible for how they use that information.
- With PitchHub staff and Administrators who operate and moderate the Platform, on a need-to-know basis. We do not routinely read messages between Founders and Investors. We may access them to investigate a report of misuse, to respond to a Help request, or where required by law.
- With service providers who process personal data on our behalf, such as hosting providers, our payment processor, email and communications providers, an analytics provider (Google Analytics, used to understand how the Platform is used - see our Cookie Policy), and the third-party provider behind our Help/support ticketing feature. These providers are only permitted to use personal data to provide services to us.
- With professional advisers, regulators or law enforcement, where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, or where required by law.
- With a buyer or successor, if PitchHub's business or assets are sold, merged or reorganised, subject to appropriate safeguards.
We do not sell personal data to third parties.
6. International Use and Data Transfers
Vanelo's data is hosted in the United Kingdom. Some of our service providers may process personal data outside the UK, for example providers of email, support ticketing and similar services.
The European Commission has recognised the United Kingdom as providing an adequate level of data protection, so transfers from the EEA to the UK are permitted without additional transfer safeguards while that decision remains in force. Where we or our service providers transfer personal data to a country that does not benefit from an adequacy decision, we put in place an appropriate safeguard recognised under UK data protection law, such as the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. We describe the applicable safeguard in this way rather than listing specific countries in this Privacy Policy because the service providers we use, and the countries in which they operate, may change from time to time without changing the safeguard that applies. If you would like information about the specific countries involved and the safeguard applicable to each transfer, you may contact us using the details provided in Section 15, and we will provide this information.
7. How Long We Keep Information
We keep personal data for as long as your account remains open, to provide the Platform to you. Once your account is closed, whether because you delete it or because we close it under section 19 of the Terms of Use, we delete or anonymise personal data within 3 months.
The main exception is where we need to keep specific information for longer to meet legal or accounting obligations, resolve a dispute, or enforce our agreements; in that case we keep only what that purpose requires, for only as long as it requires it. We keep billing and payment records for as long as tax and accounting law requires. Historical Funding Round records may be kept as a business record after your account closes. Where this happens, we remove or restrict the personal data within them (such as named individuals) to what is still needed for that record. Historical Funding Round records are visible only to the Founder, to PitchHub staff and Administrators on a need-to-know basis, and to Investors who engaged with that round, limited to what they already had access to. We cannot recall messages or documents you have already shared with other users, or copies they have already downloaded or saved.
8. Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss or misuse, including restricting access on a role and permission basis consistent with the Platform's account types. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
9. Your Rights
Subject to applicable law, you have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you; request that inaccurate data be corrected; request erasure of your data in certain circumstances; request that we restrict how we use your data; receive certain data in a portable format; object to processing based on our legitimate interests; and withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent. To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in section 15. We will not usually charge a fee, unless a request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive.
These rights are available to all users of the Platform, wherever you are based, because we apply the same standards globally. If you are in the UK, these rights arise under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk. If you are in the EEA, equivalent rights arise under the EU GDPR, and you can complain to your local data protection authority. Wherever you are based, we would welcome the chance to address your concern directly before you raise it with a regulator, and local law in your own country may also give you further rights or a further route to complain.
10. Cookies
We use cookies and similar technologies on the Platform, for example to keep you signed in and to understand how the Platform is used. Full details, including how to manage your cookie preferences, are set out in our Cookie Policy.
11. Marketing Communications
We will only send you marketing communications about Vanelo or PitchHub if you have opted in to receive them. You can withdraw your consent at any time using the unsubscribe link in any marketing message or by contacting us. This does not affect service communications we need to send you to operate your account (such as workflow notifications relating to Showcase, messages, Advisor access, or billing), which are not marketing.
12. Children
The Platform is not directed at, and is not intended to be used by, anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
13. Closing Your Account
If you close your account, we will remove your ability to access the Platform straight away, and will delete or anonymise the personal data associated with your account within 3 months, in each case as described in section 7 and subject to the exceptions set out there.
14. Changes To This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy on the Platform and, where a change is material, take reasonable steps to notify you before it takes effect.
15. Contact Us
If you have questions about this policy or how we handle personal data, contact us through the Help feature in the Platform or by writing to us at hello@vanelo.io or the address given at the start of this policy.