Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

IdeaMatch.ai (“we”, “our”, or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy while democratizing access to creation. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our AI-powered platform that connects innovators with aligned co-creators (collectively, the “Service”).

This policy was designed with Canadian privacy regulations in mind, specifically the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy laws. We also comply with other applicable data protection regulations worldwide.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By accessing or using our Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our policies, please do not access or use our Service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register for the Service, express interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services, participate in activities on the Service, or otherwise contact us. The personal information we collect may include:

• Name and contact information (email address, phone number)
• Professional and employment information (job title, company, work experience)
• Profile information (profile picture, biography, skills you have, skills you need)
• Account credentials (username, password)
• AI conversation data (your idea discussions, refinement sessions, and related exchanges)
• User-generated content (ideas, project descriptions, connection requests)
• Communications and correspondence with us

2.2 Information from Third-Party Social Media Services

We allow you to create an account and log in through third-party social media services, such as LinkedIn. If you choose to register through a social media service, we will collect the information you have made publicly available on such social media service, such as your name, profile picture, and other information permitted by that service. This information is controlled by the social media service's privacy policy.

When you log in using LinkedIn, we may collect:

• Your profile information (name, email, profile picture)
• Professional experience and education (as permitted by LinkedIn)
• Skills and endorsements (as permitted by LinkedIn)

We only request and store information that is necessary for the functioning of our platform and to provide our services to you.

2.3 Automatically Collected Information

When you access our Service, we may automatically collect certain information about your device and usage of the Service, including:

• Device information (IP address, browser type, operating system)
• Usage data (pages visited, time spent on pages, features used)
• Location information (approximate location derived from IP address)
• Cookies and similar tracking technologies (as described in our Cookie Policy)

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for purposes described in this Privacy Policy or as disclosed to you prior to collection. Our primary purposes for using your information include:

3.1 Providing and Improving the Service

• To create and manage your account
• To provide our core features (idea submission, matching, team formation)
• To personalize your experience
• To improve our Service and develop new features
• To process transactions and send related information
• To respond to your inquiries and provide customer support
• To send administrative information (service announcements, updates)

3.2 AI-Powered Conversation and Matching

Our Service uses advanced artificial intelligence to:

• Conduct intelligent conversations to refine and develop your ideas
• Generate semantic embeddings from your idea conversations for precise matching
• Match users based on compatible skills, complementary expertise, and aligned visions
• Provide personalized insights and recommendations throughout the ideation process
• Analyze conversation patterns to improve match quality and user experience

These AI-powered processes use the conversations you have with our system, along with your profile information (skills, experience, interests) to create meaningful connections with co-creators who share your vision and can contribute to bringing your ideas to reality.

3.3 Communications

We may use your information to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials, and other information that may be of interest to you. You may opt-out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in any email we send or by contacting us directly.

3.4 Legal Purposes

We may use your information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, court order, or other legal request, to protect our rights, to investigate potential violations of our Terms of Service, and to protect the safety of our users or the public.

4. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your information in the following situations:

4.1 With Your Consent

We may share your information with third parties when you have provided your consent to do so.

4.2 Service Providers

We may share your information with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include: data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, customer service, and marketing efforts.

4.3 Platform Features

Certain information (such as your profile, skills, and ideas) may be visible to other users of the Service according to your privacy settings. This is essential for the matching and team formation features of our platform.

4.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information where required to do so by law or subpoena or if we believe that such action is necessary to comply with the law, protect our rights, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

4.5 Business Transfers

We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

4.6 Third-Party Advertisers

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit the Service. These companies may use information about your visits to our website and other websites that are contained in web cookies and other tracking technologies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

5. Data Security

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information.

We use industry-standard encryption, secure hosting environments, and regular security assessments to protect your data. Our staff are trained in privacy best practices, and we continually review and update our security practices to address emerging threats.

6. International Data Transfers

Our service uses cloud infrastructure providers Vercel and Supabase for hosting and data storage. Your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in various data centers located around the world where these providers operate their services. We select providers that maintain high standards of data protection regardless of location.

If you are a resident in a jurisdiction where transfer of your personal information to another jurisdiction requires your consent, then you provide your express and unambiguous consent to such transfer by using our Service.

7. Data Retention

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements).

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

8. Your Privacy Rights

In accordance with PIPEDA and other applicable laws, you have the following rights:

8.1 Access and Portability

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information that we have collected about you. You may also request that we transfer this information to another service provider, where technically feasible.

8.2 Correction

You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information that we maintain about you.

8.3 Deletion

You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions. Upon your request to delete your personal information, we will delete information that we are not required to retain.

8.4 Objection and Restriction

You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information. You also have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

8.5 Withdraw Consent

Where we are processing your personal information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

8.6 File a Complaint

You have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or your provincial privacy commissioner if you believe that we have violated your privacy rights.

9. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

10. Third-Party Websites and Services

Our Service may contain links to other websites and services that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

11. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page. For significant changes, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you, such as through a prominent notice on our website or by sending you an email.

Your continued use of the Service following the posting of a revised Privacy Policy means that you accept and agree to the changes.

12. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our Service and hold certain information. Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies: necessary for the basic functionality of the website
• Analytical/performance cookies: to understand how visitors interact with the website
• Functionality cookies: to remember choices users make and provide enhanced features
• Targeting cookies: to deliver more relevant content and advertisements

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

Our Privacy Officer can be contacted at info@ideamatch.ai.