Privacy Policy

This Privacy Notice applies to personal data collected through our website. We are Bloc Ventures Limited and Bloc Ventures Management Limited, both with registered address at 51-52 St John’s Square, London, EC1V 4JL.

We take your privacy very seriously and this privacy notice sets out what information we may collect about you, how and why we use that information, and how we protect it. We ask that you read this Privacy Notice carefully as it contains important information about our data processing and your rights.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, how we handle your personal data, or want to exercise any of your rights, please contact us here.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. You should check this Privacy Notice occasionally to ensure you are aware of the most recent version that will apply each time you access this website.

What personal data do we collect and why?

Visitors only

When you access our website or contact us via the website, we may collect information about your visit and your web browsing. That information may include your IP address, your operating system, your browser ID, your browsing activity, your location, your country of residence and other information about how you interacted with our website.

We collect this as it will help us understand how our site is used and helps us provide the best service to those who use it. Please read more in our Cookie Policy.

Marketing

If you sign up to receive our marketing emails, we will use your name and email address to send you marketing materials that you have requested or which we believe you will find interesting. We will only send you marketing material where we have your consent to do so.

You can withdraw your consent at any time if you change your mind by contacting us or clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing emails that you receive.

Your business plan or CV

If you choose to submit a business plan to us, you voluntarily provide this to Bloc and we will review that plan in order to review and consider plans for potential investment. If your plan contains any information about you, we will use that information only in the context of reviewing your business plan. It is in our legitimate interests to assist early-stage businesses but to do so we only process personal data that you provide to us. You can object to processing of your personal data on the grounds of legitimate interest (see the ‘Your Rights’ section). However, bear in mind that if you do, we will not be able to review your business plan.

If you choose to submit a CV to us, you voluntarily provide this to us and we will review your CV in order to review and consider your suitability for the position that you have indicated you would like to apply for, or if you have not stated a role, then for any that we may be recruiting into.

We will retain any personal data that you voluntarily provide during the course of your interactions with us in line with our retention policies. All personal data will be destroyed or deleted at the end of its retention period in accordance with our retention and secure disposal policy.

Who will have access to your personal data?

Like any business, we use service providers to operate our website, such as email marketing service, Mailchimp, and data processor system, Airtable. Some of these service providers may process your data as part of the services they provide to us. We take steps to ensure that our service providers treat your data in accordance with the law, only use it in accordance with our contract with them and keep it secure.

We will never pass your details to third parties to market to you. We may disclose your personal data if we are required by law or any regulatory body to do so.

If we enter into a joint venture with or are sold to or merged with another business entity, your personal data may be disclosed to our new business partners or owners.

International transfers

We may need to transfer your personal data to countries located outside of the UK, including to countries that are outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). The countries to which your Personal Data is transferred may not offer an adequate level of protection. In connection with any transfer of Personal Data to countries that do not offer the same level of protection as in the UK or EEA. Any transfer of your data will be carried out in accordance with the law to safeguard your privacy rights and give you remedies in the unlikely event of a security breach or to any other similar approved mechanisms.

Security

To protect your personal data, we take suitable precautions and follow industry best practices to make sure it is not lost, misused or inappropriately accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

Deletion

We will retain details connected to marketing until you tell us that you no longer wish to receive the subscription or marketing material. We will keep your business plans for up to 10 years, or in the event that we invest in your business, for up to 10 years after the date on which we exit from your business.

Your rights

As a data subject, where we process personal data about you, you have the following legal rights:

• the right of access to personal data relating to you
• the right to correct any mistakes in your information
• the right to object to processing which is on the grounds of legitimate interests
• the right to ask us to stop contacting you with direct marketing
• the right to restrict your personal data being processed in some circumstances
• the right to erasure.

If you would like to exercise your rights, please contact us.

We will respond to any rights that you exercise within a month of receiving your request, unless the request is particularly complex, in which case we will confirm this to you within one month and respond substantively within three months.

Please note that exceptions apply to some of these rights which we will apply in accordance with the law.

Complaints to the regulator

If you do not think that we have processed your data in accordance with this Privacy Notice, you should let us know as soon as possible. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Information about how to do this is available on the ICO website at www.ico.org.uk.