Spencer Trask Collaborative Venture Partners, LLC ("VC") has taken great pride in creating www.VenCorps.com ("the Website") to provide a safe and secure enterprise-grade social and business networking platform while also building strong and lasting relationships with its users. VC is an online service to support the networking and interaction between business professionals, as well as being a source of funding for new and existing enterprises. That being said, VC strives to protect the privacy of its users and treat any personal information with the utmost care and respect. Moreover, VC works hard to provide its users with a significant level of control over his/her privacy and the use of any personal information. This Privacy Policy is designed to inform our users about our privacy procedures, the types of information we gather and the methods of its use. VC does not knowingly collect personally identifiably information from children under 13 years of age. By visiting, accessing and/or using this Website, users acknowledge and consent to be covered by the following Privacy Policy and any amendments thereto.
Users can gain limited access to and view certain content on the Website without the need to provide any personally identifiable information. VC generally does not collect any personally identifiable information unless a user specifically registers for an account. To register, a user needs to provide his/her first name, date of birth, user name, email address, work experience, educational background, investment history and related financial information. Birth dates are primarily collected for the purposes of validation of the user's age, but may also be used to provide other special offers. As discussed below, VC may also collect personal information due to a user's classification as a Founder, Facilitator or Funder or as part of a user's access to certain features, products or services. These may include instant messaging, email, message board posting, video or business plan posting or other similar activities. Only after consent is given will a user be allowed access to such features, products and services. Please be aware that a user's participation with such activities or features may provide VC with additional information, including the content of postings or messages, which may be linked to the user's registration or account information.
Registration: At the time a user activates his/her account, VC requests that the user provides their name, mailing address, date of birth, work experience, educational background, investment history and related financial information. As part of the account activation process, the user is also asked to provide a separate user name. VC strongly advises its users to not use any personally identifiable information as part of their user name, since it will be readily available to other users. Additionally, VC may obtain any personal information that is included in any business plan and video posted on the Website.
Promotions: From time to time VC may present special offers, contests, sweepstakes or other promotions. In order to enter into said promotions, a user may need to provide additional personal information. To the extent that VC intends to share such information with any third party involved in the promotion, such information and shared use will be specifically described as part of the terms of any offer, contest, sweepstakes or promotion.
Surveys and Feedback: VC is committed to providing the best business and social experience for its users. Therefore, VC may request information or feedback from users as part of surveys or other feedback requests as part of its continuing work to make the Website the best it can be. VC may use non-personally identifiable information to improve the look, functionality and content of the Website or to personalize user experience, products, programs and service offers.
User Generated Content: The VC service allows for users to make various types of postings for public review and comment. VC encourages users to submit their original ideas, business plans, comments, videos or other materials, in compliance with the terms of use for the Website. By submitting any materials or information a user thereby waives any privacy expectation with respect to its use. That being said, VC retains full control and determination of whether and how such submissions are used.
Emails from You: If a user contacts VC by email, VC will use the personally identifiable email address information only to respond to the specific inquiry.
Emails from Us: VC may allow its users to request receipt of special announcements and correspondence, including newsletters, promotional offers and other messages. The messages may contain registration information, additional Website features or other VenCorps information. As discussed herein, at any time the user may exercise its right to opt-out or cancel the consent to collect information for these purposes.
Cookies: VC may use software technology called "cookies" which consist of small text files stored in a computer's internet browser to assist us in providing users with the highest level of service. A user has the option of setting their Internet browser to accept, reject or provide notification of a Website's use of a cookie. Cookies do not consist of personally identifiable information per se but could be used to connect a user with personal information, such as an email address. Unless the user sets its Internet browser to reject the use of a cookie, VC may use them for various uses including recording and saving password information and determining number and retention of users on the Website. If a user chooses to set its internet browser to reject cookies, they may not be able to experience the full scope and functionality of the Website.
IP Address: When users access the Website, VC collects some non-personally identifiable information concerning the computer used for access, such as an Internet Protocol ("IP") address, the type of computer operating system (e.g., Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS) being used, the date and time you access the Website and the pages visited. An IP address is the set of numbers that every computer is assigned by the specific Internet Service Provider ("ISP"). These numbers allow a server to automatically identify a user's computer and VC may use the IP address to help diagnose server problems or otherwise to administer the Website. VC may also use technology to track access and traffic patterns within the Website. Additionally, this information may be used to improve the Website's products or services, analyze trends and maintain a user's account status. VC may also use this information to determine which areas of www.VenCorps.com are the most used, trafficked or accessed by users.
It is the policy of VC not to share any personally identifiable information with a third party for the purposes of marketing. All pertinent information collected will only be used to provide services related to VenCorps. However, VC may share demographic, non user-specific information about its users with relevant third parties, including for Academic research, but such disclosure shall not include any personally identifiable user information. From time to time, VC may engage third parties for technical, processing or other services related to the Website. In such instances, VC will use all reasonable commercial efforts to ensure that such parties are obligated to keep the information secure and confidential. Since some of the third party vendors may be located internationally, you acknowledge and consent to the transfer of any information to areas outside of the United States. Moreover, VC may disclose personal information to the extent necessary to enforce the terms of our End User Licensing Agreement or Terms and Conditions, or to otherwise protect the rights of users of the site. Additionally, to the extent necessary to fulfill any user requests, credit verification, comply with tax or other applicable law, to comply with court orders or with requests by law enforcement or governmental agencies, or to protect VC or its agents or users, VC at its sole determination may provide personally identifiable information to the necessary third parties.
Sale of Business or Assets: In the event that all or substantially all of VC's assets are sold, given or otherwise transferred to another entity, all user information collected as part of access to and use of the Website would likely be transferred to that entity as well.
Hyperlinks: The Website may contain hyperlinks and pointers to other sites on the Internet that may be maintained by third parties. These other sites may use cookies, collect data or solicit personally identifiable information using methods not confirming to VC's Privacy Policy. Such links do not constitute an endorsement by VC of any third-party site or any materials contained therein. VC does not control, and is not responsible for, the availability, accuracy or currency of such third-party site or any information, content, products or services accessible from such third-party site. Therefore, VC recommends that you fully review the privacy policy of any particular site maintained by a third party provider.
VC has attempted to incorporate reasonably appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures into its business and online systems to protect and prevent unauthorized use the information it collects on its users. Such methods include use of a firewall to prevent unauthorized access to our systems and information. While VC exercises reasonable care and due diligence in providing a secure conduit of information between your computer and our servers, VC cannot and does not guarantee the security of materials or information transmitted to us over the Internet. Therefore, while VC will attempt to protect the transmission of any payment or credit card information using methods which comply with the industry standards, we accept no liability for any unintentional disclosure of same.
For full access to all of the features of the Website, which might include chat services, posting on message boards or posting of videos or business plans, VC may require additional verification of age. Moreover, depending on your classification as a Founder, Facilitator or Funder, additional financial information may be required at the time of registration. For the purposes of this section such additional actions or information may include credit card billing information, return of a signed consent form or providing the required information to a VC representative via the telephone.
If you need further assistance, please send an email with your questions or comments to info@VenCorps.com or write to VC at:
You may also telephone us at (800) 622-7078. (If you are under 18 years of age, please obtain your parent or guardian's permission before contacting VC.)
The Website may be accessed by children under the age of 18 with their parents' permission, however, it is not intended to be used at all by children under 13 years of age. That being said, the business, social networking and educational possibilities available through the Internet offer a wealth of opportunity for children. As a parent or guardian your knowledge, involvement and guidance is essential to safeguard that children have a rewarding and fun experience. Your efforts to inform and ensure that your child follows responsible information practices will greatly ensure that your child has a safe and enriching experience with www.VenCorps.com and other online providers.
Children Under Age 13: VC does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to access, use or register with the Website. If you are under 13 years of age, please do not attempt to visit, use or register on the Website or send any information whatsoever to VC. In the event that VC is informed, discovers or otherwise learns that it has collected personal information from a child under 13 years of age, it will delete that information as quickly as possible and terminate the user's account registration. If you believe that VC might have any information from or about a child under 13 years of age, please contact info@VenCorps.com.
Children Between the Ages of 13 and 18: We recommend that minors over the age of 13 ask their parents for permission before accessing, using or registering for VC or otherwise sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.
At any time a user (or their parent or guardian if they are under 18 years of age) may send a postcard, letter or other correspondence to the VC Privacy Manager, at the address provided above, if he/she would like to access, update, amend or delete the personally identifiable information that VC has compiled. To protect our user's privacy and security, VC may institute an investigation to verify the identity of any individuals making an inquiry before providing any access to the personal information of our users. Therefore, included with any requested action that you wish VC to take, please ensure that you provide your email address and telephone number so that a VC representative may contact you (or your parent or legal guardian) if necessary.
The Privacy Policy detailed herein is effective as of the 25th day of April, 2008, and applies to any and all information that you may have obtained from or provided to VC. VC reserves the right, at its full and complete discretion and without prior notice, to change, modify, amend, add, subtract or otherwise remove portions of its privacy policy at any time and for any or no reason. Please periodically continue to check the Privacy Policy on www.VenCorps.com for any changes. Your continued access to and use of the Website after the posting of any amendments, deletions or other changes to the Privacy Policy will constitute you acceptance, acknowledgment and agreement to the respective changes.