This Privacy Policy explains how The PIPE Company OÜ (UK) Limited ("PIPE", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data when you use our website, platform, or services. We are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. Who We Are
The PIPE Company OÜ (UK) Limited is the data controller responsible for your personal data. Our registered address is available upon request. For any data protection enquiries, please contact us at [email protected].
2. What Personal Data We Collect
We may collect the following categories of personal data, depending on how you interact with PIPE:
- Identity data: first name, last name, title, and professional role
- Contact data: email address, telephone number, and postal address
- Professional data: organisation name, department, career history, and LinkedIn profile
- Innovation data: information submitted through the innovation disclosure process (excluding any inventive step)
- Financial data: investor type and investment preferences (not payment card details, which are handled by third-party processors)
- Technical data: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, and pages visited
- Communications data: records of correspondence with the PIPE team
3. How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes, each of which has a lawful basis under UK GDPR:
- To provide our services: processing innovation submissions, matching Associates to projects, managing investor network membership (lawful basis: contract performance)
- To communicate with you: responding to enquiries, sending requested information, and providing updates on PIPE activities (lawful basis: legitimate interests)
- To improve our services: analysing usage patterns and feedback to develop the PIPE Ecosystem (lawful basis: legitimate interests)
- To comply with legal obligations: maintaining records required by law (lawful basis: legal obligation)
- Marketing communications: sending newsletters and insights, where you have consented to receive them (lawful basis: consent)
4. Innovation Submissions and IP Protection
We treat innovation submissions with the highest level of confidentiality. Submissions are processed on the basis that no inventive step is disclosed, and we implement technical and organisational measures to ensure that submission content is accessible only to authorised PIPE personnel and designated reviewers. We will never share innovation submission content with any third party without your explicit written consent.
5. Data Sharing
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your data with:
- PIPE Associates and reviewers, where necessary to assess or develop your submitted innovation (with your consent)
- Service providers who assist in operating our platform (under data processing agreements)
- Regulatory or legal authorities, where required by law
6. Data Retention
We retain personal data for as long as necessary to provide our services and comply with our legal obligations. Innovation submission data is retained for a minimum of seven years following the end of the relevant commercial engagement. Contact and enquiry data is retained for three years from last interaction, unless you request earlier deletion.
7. Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to: access your personal data; correct inaccurate data; request erasure (subject to legal obligations); restrict processing; data portability; and object to processing based on legitimate interests. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
8. Cookies
Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience and analyse site usage. By continuing to use our website, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with this policy. You can disable cookies through your browser settings, although this may affect your experience of our website.
9. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Our blockchain-based infrastructure provides additional immutability and auditability for innovation submission records.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by email or by posting a notice on our website. The date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last revised.
For any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected] or call +44 (0)161 399 4283.