EquiMatch.AI Website Privacy Statement

EquiMatch.AI (hereafter: “EquiMatch”, “us”, or “we”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Statement tells you what to expect EquiMatch to do with your personal information.

Please note that we refer to individuals who are clients of EquiMatch that wish to engage in a proprietary partnership with another organization as “Buyers”. A member of an organization that could (potentially) be approached by a Buyer or by EquiMatch for a partnership on behalf of a Buyer is referred to as an individual from a "Company of Interest".

This Privacy Statement only applies to personal information processed when someone visits our website and to the processing of personal information of individuals from Companies of Interest. Information for Buyers regarding their role in handling the personal information of individuals from Companies of Interest and of EquiMatch employees transferred to them by EquiMatch is available in Annex I.

This Privacy Statement has the following sections:

  • Contact details
  • What information we collect, use, and why
  • Lawful bases and data protection rights
  • Where we get personal information from
  • How long we keep personal information
  • Who we share personal information with
  • Sharing information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Annex I – Information for Buyers

Contact details

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Statement or would like to exercise your data protection rights, you may contact us via our contact form. You may also use this contact form to get in touch with our representative in the EEA.

What information we collect, use, and why


We collect or use the following personal information to provide and improve our services:

  • Identity information: Such as your name and/or information on your public professional profile(s).
  • Contact information: Such as your work email address, company address, and/or telephone number.
  • Communication information: Such as any emails and/or other correspondence with us.
  • Usage information: Such as information about how you use and interact with our website, if/when you visit it. For now, we only collect personal information and cookies where necessary to enable the functioning of our website.  

We do not process sensitive data, also known as "special category data", unless it has been manifestly made public by you, as an individual from a Company of Interest, on work-related channels such as your public website or public professional profile(s). We only process21 this information if it informs an integral part of your company's professional identity. To give you an example, if you create accessible products for the blind and you yourself, as the founder of the company, are blind, and this has been manifestly made public by you as part of promotional messages related to your products, then there is a possibility we will have a record of such information.

We do not process any personal information related to criminal convictions or offenses.

We may use your personal information as part of a profile related to your company.  

We collect or use the following personal information to comply with legal requirements:

  • Any personal information required to comply with legal obligations.

We collect or use the following personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims:

  • Identity information: Such as your first name and/or last name.
  • Contact information: Such as your work email address and/or telephone number.
  • Communication information: Such as any emails and/or other records of correspondence with us.

Lawful bases and data protection rights

We must have a legal justification, or “lawful basis”, for collecting and using your personal information.

Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights, which are in brief set out below:

  • Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for.
  • Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information.
  • Your right to restriction - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information.
  • Your right to object - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information.
  • Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organization, or to you.
  • Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

Please note that the rights above are not absolute and may not apply in every case, even as detailed in the "our lawful bases for the collection and use of your information" section. Each data subject request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  

If you make a request to exercise your rights, we must respond to you without undue delay, and in any event within one month.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using our contact form.

You may also use the above contact form to make any complaints related to our processing of your personal information. If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your information after filing a complaint with us, you can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your information

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to provide and improve products and services for clients are:

  • Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organization, or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. This legal basis applies when processing personal information to fulfill our service agreement with Buyers. Our legitimate interests are:
    • To connect individuals from Companies of Interest who may be interested in a partnership with compatible Buyers.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to comply with legal requirements are:

  • Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. This legal basis applies for all processing done to fulfill legal requirements. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object, and the right to data portability.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims are:

  • Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object. This applies when we process personal information as strictly required to fulfill a request from you.
  • Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organization, or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. This applies when we process your name or additional personal information that is not strictly required to answer your request. Our legitimate interests are:
    • To address you by name when sending you a response or to review our previous interactions with you to better understand the context surrounding your query, complaint, or claim.

Where we get personal information from

If you are an individual from a Company of Interest, we get your personal information from publicly available sources, legitimate and legally operating paid sources, or directly from you.

If you are a website visitor, we get your personal information directly from you, from your interactions with our service.

How long we keep personal information

We will only retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for as enumerated above, including to satisfy any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

If you want to learn more about our specific retention periods for your personal information, you may contact us via our contact form.

Upon expiry of the applicable retention period, we will securely destroy your personal information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

Who we share personal information with

We do not share personal information with third parties, except as necessary for our legitimate professional and business needs, to carry out your requests, and/or as required or permitted by law or professional standards. We may share personal information with third parties such as:

  • Our service providers: we transfer your personal information to our third-party service providers, such as our (IT) systems providers, our hosting providers, our providers of AI systems, professional consultants, and other professional or legal advisors. EquiMatch works with such providers so they can process your personal information on our behalf. EquiMatch will only transfer personal information to them when they meet our strict standards on processing personal information. We only share personal information with third parties that is necessary to enable them to provide their services.
  • Buyers: we only transfer the personal information of individuals from Companies of Interest to Buyers as stipulated in service agreements with them. Such contracts are drafted in compliance with data protection and other relevant laws.
  • Courts, tribunals, law enforcement or regulatory bodies: EquiMatch will disclose personal information in order to respond to requests of courts, tribunals, government or law enforcement agencies or where it is necessary to comply with applicable laws, court or tribunal orders or rules, or government or professional regulations.

Sharing information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

Where necessary, we may transfer personal information outside of the EEA and our base of operations in Switzerland. When doing so, we comply with data protection law, making sure appropriate safeguards are in place. Where an adequacy decision is not present and the Swiss-US/EU-US Data Privacy Framework does not apply, we use standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission to safeguard transfers to third countries.

For further information regarding the safeguards applied to international transfers, please contact us using our contact form.

Last updated

xx November 2024

Annex I – Information for Buyers

Definitions

"Agreement" refers to the service agreement between EquiMatch and Buyers, titled "MANDATE AGREEMENT FOR TARGET ORIGINATION"

The terms "Controller", "Data Subject", "Personal Data", "Processing", and "Processor",  refer to the terms as defined in the FADP and GDPR.

"Data Privacy Framework" refers to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework self-certification program (as applicable) operated by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“FADP" refers to the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection of 25 September 2020 (SR 235.1).

“GDPR” refers to Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation).

"Standard Contractual Clauses” refers to the standard contractual clauses annexed to the European Commission’s Decision (EU) 2021/914 of 4 June 2021 currently found at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914, as may be amended, superseded, or replaced.

Roles

Buyers and EquiMatch each act independently as Controllers when considering all activities within the scope of the Agreement. If the Buyer and EquiMatch enter into a Controller – Processor relationship, they will conclude a separate agreement as mandated by the FADP, and where applicable, the GDPR.

International Transfers

Where EquiMatch will be transferring Personal Data to the Buyer, and the Buyer is not based in a country that offers an adequate level of protection as defined under the FADP, and the relevant Data Privacy Framework does not apply, Module One of the Standard Contractual Clauses will apply. In Clause 7, the optional docking clause applies; in Clause 11, the optional language is deleted; in Clauses 17 and 18, EquiMatch and the Buyer agree that the governing law and forum for disputes for the Standard Contractual Clauses will be that of Switzerland; the annexes of the Standard Contractual Clauses will be deemed completed with the information set out in this Annex and the Agreement; and the supervisory authority that will act as the competent supervisory authority will be the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. Moreover, insofar as the data transfers are subject to the FADP, references to the GDPR should be understood as references to the FADP, references to “EU”, “Union”, “Member State(s)” and “Member State law” will be interpreted as references to Switzerland and Swiss law, and references to courts will be interpreted as references to relevant courts in Switzerland.

Categories of Data Subjects

The transfer of Personal Data of individuals from Companies of Interest will be transferred from EquiMatch to the Buyer, along with Personal Data of employees working for EquiMatch.

Categories of Personal Data transferred

Data transferred may include identity information such as names and information on public professional profile(s); contact information such as email addresses, company addresses, and telephone numbers; and communication information such as emails and other correspondence. Sensitive data as defined in the FADP and GDPR (where it is defined as “special category data”) will only be transferred as it pertains to individuals from Companies of Interest, and will only be transferred where such information has been manifestly made public by the relevant individual, and where such information forms an integral part of the relevant company's identity. Information regarding criminal convictions or offenses will not be transferred.

Frequency of transfers

Transfers of Personal Data will be performed on a continuous basis as necessary to execute the Agreement.

Nature and purposes of the Processing

The nature and purposes of the Processing are as described in the Agreement.

Retention

Personal Data will be stored for only as long as is necessary for the respective business purposes of EquiMatch and the Buyer as described in the Agreement. Personal Data will also be deleted if an applicable legal retention period expires, or a relevant individual legitimately exercises their right to deletion.

Transfers to Processors

Transfers to Processors, as regulated by the FADP and GDPR, will be subject to the engagement restrictions applicable to sharing “Confidential Information” with third parties as stipulated in the Agreement.

Technical and organizational measures

Taking into account the state of the art, the costs of implementation and the nature, scope, context, and purposes of Processing as well as the risk of varying likelihood and severity for the rights and freedoms of individuals, appropriate technical and organizational measures will be taken to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk by the Buyer, including:

  • All employees handling Personal Data must have committed themselves to confidentiality or be under an appropriate statutory obligation of confidentiality.
  • Access to Personal Data must be restricted on a need-to-know basis.
  • Access and other security controls must be regularly audited.
  • Automated retention controls to comply with legal retention periods must be applied where possible. Otherwise, procedures to ensure the deletion of Personal Data according to applicable retention periods must be put in place.
  • Procedures to enable individuals to exercise their Data Subject rights, where applicable as defined under the FADP and GDPR, must be put in place.
  • Measures to detect and manage breaches of data security or Personal Data breaches, as defined under the FADP and GDPR respectively, must be put in place.