Privacy Policy

This document sets out the privacy policy of 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. and its affiliates (together referred to as “500 Global”, “we” or “us“) and explains how we collect and use your personal information in connection with your relationship with us as a customer or potential customer including;

• through your use of https://500.co/ and any country top level domain name (the “Site“),
• through your use of and applications for our products and services and participation in our program(s);
• by interacting with our content and/or services such as online training; or
• by contacting our team members.

This policy also applies to information held about suppliers and possible future suppliers, contacts and all other people we hold information about.

This Privacy Policy also sets out your rights and who you can contact for more information. If you are a customer based in the EU, please see the EU Users for additional information that is relevant to you. If you are based in California, please see the CPRA section below for additional information that is relevant to you.

“Personal Information” means data that allows someone to identify or contact you (e.g. your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, credit/debit numbers, expiration date and other billing information; people to whom purchases have been shipped, including addresses and phone number). “Non-Personal Information” means data that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information.

Depending on the particular circumstances, we may collect and hold different Personal Information about you.  For example, this may include:

• your name;
• your education;
• your occupation and professional qualifications;
• your contact information such as your home or work address, telephone and email contact details;
• your payment details/financial information, such as your bank account or credit card details;
• your postings on any social media applications and services that we provide;
• your account security credentials, such as username and passwords;
• information about how you use our products and services;
• information in connection with communications you send us, for example to report a problem; and
• where necessary, additional information as part of our user authentication process.

Each time you use the Site, we may automatically collect the following types of information:

• Technical information: For example, the type of internet browser and the operating system. We use this information to help provide a good user experience on the Site.
• Log information: For example, the details of the use of the Site by you, the visits to the Site and traffic data. We use this information to help us understand how users use the Site and to improve user experience.

If you fail to provide us with this information, or you object to us processing such information the consequences are that we may be prevented from conducting business with you and we may be unable to provide our products and services to you.

• Information you give to us when you purchase our products and services. If you purchase one of our products you will need to provide certain information including your name, address and card number in relation to the purchase.
• Other information you give to us. We may receive and store information that you enter on the Site (e.g. when you register for a program) or give us in any other way (e.g., by telephone, email or other software platform). As a result of your use of the Site, you may supply us with such Personal Information such as your name and contact details.
• Social Media. Depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram you might give us permission to access information from those accounts or services.

We may also collect information from you online using cookies and other analytical tools or when you visit the Site, including when you use our products and services. Like most websites, we use “cookies” to help us make our Site – and the way you use it – better. Cookies mean that a website will remember you. They’re small text files that sites transfer to your computer (or phone / tablet). They improve website use and speed – for example by automatically filling your name and address in text fields. There are more details in our section on Cookies below.

In addition, with regard to each of your visits to our Site we will automatically collect certain information e.g. your IP address used to connect your computer to the Internet.

The Site has reasonable security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and unauthorized alteration of Personal Information in 500 Globals’ possession and control. Although we endeavor to provide security for information in our possession and control, no security system can prevent against all potential security breaches, and we bear no liability for uses or disclosures of Personal Information or Non-Personal Information arising in connection with the theft thereof.

Our Site may contain links to other sites, including via our social media buttons. While we try to link only to websites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content, security, or privacy practices employed by other websites and a link does not constitute an endorsement of that website. Once you link to another website from our Site you are subject to the terms and conditions of that website, including, but not limited to, its internet privacy policy and practices. Please check these policies before you submit any data to these websites.

Our primary purpose in collecting user information is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customised experience and to provide the products and services that you have requested. We may also use the information that you have provided to ensure that the content on our Site is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer. We may use and disclose your information for the following specific purposes:

• to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the products, services and information that you request from us;
• to assist you with enquiries, or to improve our customer service;
• to communicate with you;
• to send you marketing (where we have the right to do so – see marketing section below);
• for our billing and account purposes;
• to maintain our business relationships where you are a business partner, a user of our website and services, or a customer;
• to administer our Site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
• as part of our efforts to keep our Site safe and secure;
• to measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you;
• to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our Site about services that may interest you or them;
• to develop and improve our products and services;
• to update our records;
• to allow you to participate in interactive features of the Site or our programs, when you choose to do so; and
• comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

As further described below, in limited circumstances we may disclose collected information, including Personal Information, to certain third parties in connection with providing the Services or as required by law.

We may use Non-Personal Information in a variety of ways, including, by way of example, to evaluate the performance of the Site and Services and the general preferences of users, or to generate anonymous statistics for our benefit or for our business partners. Because Non-Personal Information is entirely anonymous, and therefore can never be used by us to identify you, this policy does not limit our ability to use or disclose Non-Personal Information.

As a necessary part of providing our products and services, we may disclose information collected from you to the following categories of third parties for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy:

• We may disclose certain Personal Information about you to our affiliates, third-party service providers, agents and contractors (e.g., our third party payment processors), if this is necessary to provide you with our products and services, respond to your inquiries or for any other related purposes and so long as they are only using the Personal Information to provide services to us. We will ensure that if we share information with, or provide access to, third party service providers or affiliates, any such disclosure or access is at all times in compliance with applicable data protection legislation.
• If another company acquires our company, business, or our assets, that company will possess the Personal Information collected by it and us and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.
• Under certain limited circumstances, we may cooperate with legal investigations and/or we may be subject to legal requirements to disclose information collected through the Site or the Services, such as, by way of example, to a court or a governmental agency, and our policy is to provide such cooperation and comply fully with all such legal requirements.
• We may also disclose Personal Information to protect or defend the rights or property of 500 Global or users of the Services and/or to investigate any violation or potential violation of the law, this Privacy Policy, or the Terms of Use. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
• We may also share your Personal Information with third parties who support our information technology or handle mailings on our behalf and our professional advisers.

The disclosures contemplated by this paragraph (“Necessary Disclosures”) are necessary if you wish to use our products and services. As mentioned above, we may use and disclose Non-Personal Information without restriction. If you do not want us to make such Necessary Disclosures, or to use Non-Personal Information without restriction, you must not use the Services. We do not sell, rent or lease e-mail addresses or other Personal Information to third parties.

We will only keep the information we collect about you for as long as required for the purposes set out above or as required to comply with any legal obligations to which we are subject. This will involve us regularly reviewing our files to check that information is accurate, up-to-date and still required.

If you close an account you have with us or you decide not to go ahead with participating in one of our programs, we may still keep your information.

If you have subscribed to one or more of our products or services, communications or mailing lists, you may unsubscribe by following the instructions which are included in any email that you receive or by contacting privacy@500.co at any time.

Cookies are small digital signature files that are stored by your web browser that allow your preferences to be recorded when visiting the Site. They may also be used to track your return visits to the Site. When using the Services, we may create “cookies” on your computer for purposes of facilitating and maintaining your current user session to help 500 Global understand your use of the Site and enable you to access, navigate and use the Services. 500 Global may collect Personal Information using those cookies in order to enable the Company to identify you in connection with the Services and to track use of the Services for purposes consistent with this policy.

To make our Site and Services more useful to you, our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) collect information from you, including your browser type, operating system, IP, which may vary from session to session), domain name, and/or a date/time stamp for your visit. Third party advertising companies may also use cookies for tracking purposes.

You may be able to block cookies via your browser settings, but this may prevent you from access to certain features of the Site. For information about blocking the use of cookies, please refer to the instructions/help screen on your browser.

500 Global does not currently take steps to respond to browsers’ “Do Not Track” signals as no uniform standard to respond to such signals has been developed at this time.

If we change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on the Site so that users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we will disclose it. These changes will be effective immediately. In any event, changes to this Privacy Policy may affect our use of Personal Information that you provided us prior to our notification to you of the changes. Please check this Privacy Policy periodically to inform yourself of any changes. If you do not accept the changes made to this Privacy Policy you should immediately stop using the Site and our products and services.

Effective December 15, 2022. 500 Global may make changes to this policy in the future. Last updated December 15, 2022.

For any questions or comments on our privacy policy please contact privacy@500.co 

Privacy Policy: EU Users

This section applies to users in the European Union in addition to the terms set out above. In this section “Data Protection Legislation” means the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, together with all other applicable legislation relating to privacy or data protection, and where we use the terms “personal data”, “data subject”, “controller”, “processor” and “process” (and its derivatives), such terms shall have the meanings given to them in the Data Protection Legislation.

500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C acts as data controller for the purpose of Data Protection Legislation and is responsible for processing your personal data under this Privacy Policy unless otherwise notified to you in connection with a particular product or service.

Our processing of your personal information is necessary:

• for the performance of contracts to which you will be a party to and in order to take steps at your request prior to you entering into those contracts;
• for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by us; or
• in order to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

In relation to any processing of special categories of personal information such as information about your ethnicity, we will generally rely on obtaining specific consent from you at the time unless there is otherwise a legal requirement for us to process such information.

Where our processing is based on the legitimate interest grounds described above, those legitimate interests are: (i) collecting personal information to provide you with a smooth and efficient customer experience; (ii) running our business; (iii) to provide the products and services you have requested; (iv) to prevent fraud; (v) to update you and keep you informed about relevant products and services, unless you indicate at any time that you do not wish us to do so; and (vi) for our own marketing, research and product development.

At any time, you have the right:

• to be informed about the processing of your personal data (i.e. for what purposes, what types, to what recipients it is disclosed, storage periods, any third party sources from which it was obtained, confirmation of whether we undertake automated decision-making, including profiling, and the logic, significance and envisaged consequences);
• to request access to or a copy of any personal data which we hold about you;
• to rectification of your personal data, if you consider that it is inaccurate;
• to ask us to delete your personal data, if you consider that we do not have the right to hold it;
• to withdraw consent to our processing of your personal data (to the extent such processing is based on previously obtained consent);
• to ask us to stop or start sending you marketing messages at any time by using the below contact details;
• to restrict processing of your personal data;
• to data portability (moving some of your personal data elsewhere) in certain circumstances;
• to object to your personal data being processed in certain circumstances; and
• to not to be subject to a decision based on automated processing and to have safeguards put in place if you are being profiled based on your personal data.

Any request for access to or a copy of your personal data must be in writing and we will endeavour to respond within a reasonable period and in any event within one month in compliance with Data Protection Legislation. We will comply with our legal obligations as regards your rights as a data subject.

We will correct any incorrect or incomplete information and will stop processing your personal data, or erase it, where there is no legal reason for us to continue to hold or use that information.

We aim to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate at all times. To assist us in ensuring that your information is up to date, do let us know if any of your personal details change.

You acknowledge and agree any personal data that you provide to 500 Global will be transferred to and stored in the US in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Where we share data with affiliates and other third parties as described here, your information may also be sent to and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and may be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us, or for one of our service providers, affiliates, distributors, agents or contractors.

Where recipients are outside the EEA, we ensure that the recipient provides an adequate level of protection for your personal data or the transfer is otherwise permitted under applicable Data Protection Legislation.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights relating to your information set out above, or if you have any questions or comments about data protection, or you wish to raise a complaint about how we are using your information you can contact us using the following details, or any other details notified to you from time to time: write to the registered and head office of 500 Global at privacy@500.co.

If you have any concerns about our use of your information, you also have the right to make a complaint to the relevant Data Protection Authority which regulates and supervises the use of personal data in the EEA.

For any questions or comments on our privacy policy please contact privacy@500.co

Privacy Policy: California Users

We collect Personal Data from Consumers and comply with the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”).  This California Privacy Notice applies to California residents (“Consumers,” “you,” or “your”).

For the purposes of this California Privacy Notice, “Personal Data” means information that is linked or reasonably linkable to a particular individual or household. However, the following categories of information are not Personal Data:

• Publicly available information;
• Deidentified or aggregated data; or
• Information otherwise excluded from the scope of the CPRA.

This Privacy Notice provides the following information to California Consumers:

• Categories of Personal Data we collect;
• Purposes for which we use Personal Data;
• Categories of Personal Data we disclose to third parties;
• Categories of third parties to which we disclose Personal Data; and
• How Consumers can exercise their rights under the CPRA:
  • The rights to access, correct, or delete Personal Data;
  • The right to obtain a portable copy of Personal Data;
  • The right to limit the use of sensitive personal data in certain circumstances; and
  • The rights to opt out of the sharing of Personal Data for behavioral advertising, sales of personal data, or certain profiling.

The table below outlines the non-sensitive categories of Personal Data 500 Global collects about Consumers and whether and how they are disclosed to third parties.

We collect Non-Sensitive Personal Data from the following sources:

• Directly from our users
• Inferences from your activity
• From our affiliates

1. Identifiers
   1. Examples: Identifiers may contain the following: Portfolio company / investor / program participant / client information such as names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers or other contact information.
   2. Purpose(s): Investor / client / service provider/portfolio/program participant records and communications; anti-money laundering & know your customer (AML/KYC) purposes; to improve and provide our services; and/or marketing purposes
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data may be sold to Affiliates and Business Partners
   5. Sharing: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
2. Personal Characteristics
   1. Examples: Personal Characteristics may contain the following: Age, gender.
   2. Purpose(s): Investor / client / service provider/portfolio/program participant records and communications; anti-money laundering & know your customer (AML/KYC) purposes; to improve and provide our services; and/or marketing purposes
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data may be sold to Affiliates and Business Partners
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors, Affiliates, and Business Partners
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
3. Commercial Information
   1. Examples: Commercial Information may contain the following: Customer information, property records.
   2. Purpose(s): Anti-money laundering & know your customer (AML/KYC) purposes; to improve our services and programs; and/or for business development & marketing purposes.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data may be sold to Affiliates and Business Partners
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors, Affiliates, and Business Partners
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
4. Internet/Electronic Activity
   1. Examples: Internet/Electronic Activity may contain the following: Web information of users accessing our website.
   2. Purpose(s): To improve user experience on our website; to improve our services; and/or to generate statistics on the makeup of our website users.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data is not sold to third parties
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors and Affiliates
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
5. Imprecise Geolocational
   1. Examples: Imprecise Geolocational may contain the following: Personnel office access information.
   2. Purpose(s): To facilitate entry into 500 Global’s office; and for security purposes.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data is not sold to third parties
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors and Affiliates
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
6. Sensory Information
   1. Examples: Sensory Information may contain the following: Photographs, videos, and video recordings of company related events and programs
   2. Purpose(s): For business development & marketing purposes; and/or for delivery of our services.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data may be sold to Affiliates and Business Partners
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors, Affiliates, and Business Partners
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
7. Professional Information
   1. Examples: Professional Information may contain the following: Employment history, salary information, job titles
   2. Purpose(s): Anti-money laundering & know your customer (AML/KYC) purposes; to deliver and improve our services; to generate statistics on the makeup of our investors / clients / service providers / portfolio / program participants; for employment and HR-related purposes; and/or for business development & marketing purposes.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data may be sold to Affiliates and Business Partners
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors, Affiliates, and Business Partners
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
8. Educational Information
   1. Examples: Educational Information may contain the following: Educational history.
   2. Purpose(s): Anti-money laundering & know your customer (AML/KYC) purposes; to deliver and improve our services; to generate statistics on the makeup of our investors / clients / service providers / portfolio / program participants; for employment and HR-related purposes; and/or for business development & marketing purposes.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data may be sold to Affiliates and Business Partners
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors, Affiliates, and Business Partners
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
9. Inferences
   1. Examples: Inferences may contain the following: Information drawn from other pieces of information.
   2. Purpose(s): For HR-related purposes.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data is not sold to third parties
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors and Affiliates
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.

The table below outlines the categories of Sensitive Personal Data 500 Global collects about Consumers and whether they are shared with third parties. 500 Global obtains affirmative consent from Consumers to process the Sensitive Personal Data, in compliance with applicable law.

We collect Sensitive Personal Data from the following sources:

• Directly from our users
• From our affiliates

1. Government ID Data
   1. Examples: Government ID Data may contain the following: Driver’s License Number, Government-Issued Identification, and Passport Information.
   2. Purpose(s): To provide services, to improve services, and to comply with statutory or other obligations.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data is not sold to third parties
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors and Affiliates
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
2. Sensitive Category Data
   1. Examples:Sensitive Category Data may contain the following: Identification Numbers, racial or ethnic origin, identifiers and other personal characteristics.
   2. Purpose(s): To provide services, to improve services, and to comply with statutory or other obligations.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data is not sold to third parties
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors and Affiliates
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
3. Financial Data
   1. Examples: Financial Data may contain the following: Account numbers, credit card information, or other financial information.
   2. Purpose(s): To provide services, to improve services, and to comply with statutory or other obligations.
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data is not sold to third parties
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors and Affiliates
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
4. Precise Geolocation Data
   1. Examples: Precise Geolocation Data may contain the following: Office access information.
   2. Purpose(s): To facilitate entry into 500 Global’s office; and for security purposes
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or share this data for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This data is not sold to third parties
   5. Sharing: This data may be shared with Processors and Affiliates
   6. Retention Period: We retain this data for as long as reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.

Use Of Personal Data

We use Personal Data for the purposes described above. Personal Data may also be used or disclosed as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

Disclosing Personal Data

We share and/or sell Personal Data with the following categories of third parties:

• Processors: We use processors to securely handle Personal Data on our behalf and only on our instructions. These companies may not use your Personal Data for their own purposes.
• Affiliates: We may share your information with our affiliates, subsidiaries, and representatives as part of providing our services.
• Our Business Partners: We may share relevant personal data with our business partners to provide you with exclusive offers for products and services that may interest you.

See the tables above for more details about how different categories of Personal Data are shared.

California Consumers have the following rights under the CPRA:

• The rights to access, correct, or delete Personal Data;
• The right to obtain a portable copy of Personal Data;
• The right to limit the use of Sensitive Personal Data in certain circumstances; and
• The rights to opt out of the sharing of Personal Data for behavioral advertising, sales of personal data, or certain profiling.

If you are a California Consumer, you can submit a request to exercise your personal data rights under the CPRA by submitting a request to exercise your personal data rights under the CPRA by clicking here and submitting the form at https://500.co/cpra.  You may also make any of these requests by calling (888) 680-2293 Ext. 5 or emailing privacy@500.co. Please be aware that we do not accept or process requests through other means (e.g., via fax, social media, etc.). To protect your privacy, we may need to authenticate your identity before we respond to your rights request. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to verify your identity for this purpose. Any information you provide to authenticate your identity will only be used to process your rights request.  Please be aware that we do not accept or process rights requests through other means (e.g., via fax or social media).

We will respond to your rights request within 45 days, though in certain cases we may inform you that we will need up to another 45 days to act on your request. If we suspect fraudulent or malicious activity on or from your account, we will delay taking action on your request until we can appropriately verify your identity and the request as authentic. Also note that each of the rights are subject to certain exceptions.

We reserve the right to decline to process, or charge a reasonable fee for, requests from a Consumer that are manifestly unfounded, excessive, or repetitive.

The CPRA defines a “sale” as the exchange of Personal Data to a third party for money or anything of value. In certain situations, we sell Personal Data to third parties. You can opt out of the sale of your Personal Data by submitting a rights request as described above.

The CPRA defines “sharing” as disclosing Personal Data to a third party for behavioral advertising, sometimes referred to as “targeted advertising.” An example of this is displaying advertisements to a consumer where the advertisement is selected based on Personal Data obtained from that consumer’s activities over time and across nonaffiliated websites or online applications to predict such consumer’s preferences or interests. We share some Personal Data for behavioral advertising. You can opt out of the sharing of your Personal Data for behavioral advertising by submitting a rights request as described above.

The CPRA provides a right to limit some uses of Sensitive Personal Data. In particular, you may direct companies not to use Sensitive Personal Data except as necessary to provide goods or services you have requested.

You may submit a request to limit the use of your sensitive Personal Data by submitting a rights request as described above.

The CPRA allows you to designate an authorized agent to make a rights request on your behalf. Your authorized agent may submit such a request by following the same method described above. We may require verification of your authorized agent in addition to the information for verification above for Consumers and households.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this California Privacy Notice, contact us at privacy@500.co.

Our services are not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 16. If you learn that a child has provided us with personal information, then you may contact us as indicated above.

For any questions or comments on our privacy policy please contact privacy@500.co.

Privacy Policy: California HR Privacy Notice

We collect Personal Information from current and past employees (‘Employees’), Contractors and Applicants and comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act and related laws and regulations (“California privacy laws”). This California HR Privacy Notice applies to California Employees, Contractors, and Applicants (“you” or “your”).

“Personal Information” means information that is linked or reasonably linkable to a particular individual or household. However, the following categories of information are not Personal Information:

• Publicly available information;
• Deidentified or aggregated data; or
• Information otherwise excluded from the scope of California privacy laws.

This Privacy Notice provides the following information to California Employees, Contractors, and Applicants:

• Categories of Personal Information we collect;
• Purposes for which we use Personal Information;
• Categories of Personal Information we disclose to third parties;
• Categories of third parties to which we disclose Personal Information; and
• How Employees, Contractors, and Applicants can exercise their rights under California privacy laws:
  • The rights to access, correct, or delete Personal Information;
  • The right to limit the use of sensitive Personal Information in certain circumstances; and
  • The rights to opt out of targeted advertising, sales of Personal Information, or profiling.

The content below outlines the non-sensitive categories of Personal Information 500 Global collects about Employees, Contractors, and Applicants and whether and how they are disclosed to third parties.

We collect Non-Sensitive Personal Information from the following sources:

• Directly from our Employees, Contractors, and Applicants

1. Category of Personal Information: Educational Information
   1. Examples: Educational Information may contain the following: Educational history, grades, etc.
   2. Purpose(s) for Collection: To perform HR services including assessment of candidate qualifications
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or disclose this information for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This information is not sold to third parties
   5. Other Disclosures: This information may be disclosed to Processors and Affiliates. We disclose Educational Information to enable our processors to provide customer service on our behalf.
   6. Retention Period: We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected
2. Category of Personal Information: Professional Information
   1. Examples: Professional Information may contain the following: Employment history, salary, etc.
   2. Purpose(s) for Collection: To perform HR services including assessment of candidate qualifications and credentials
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or disclose this information for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This information is not sold to third parties
   5. Other Disclosures: This information may be disclosed to Processors and Affiliates. We disclose Professional Information to enable our processors to provide customer service on our behalf.
   6. Retention Period: We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected
3. Category of Personal Information: Identifiers
   1. Examples: Identifiers may contain the following: Name, email address, physical address, etc.
   2. Purpose(s) for Collection: To perform HR services including assessment of candidate qualifications and credentials
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or disclose this information for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This information is not sold to third parties
   5. Other Disclosures: This information may be disclosed to Processors and Affiliates. We disclose Identifiers to enable our processors to provide customer service on our behalf.
   6. Retention Period: We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected
4. Category of Personal Information: Personal Characteristics
   1. Examples: Personal Characteristics may contain the following: Age, gender, etc.
   2. Purpose(s) for Collection: To perform HR services including assessment of hiring eligibility and employee benefits eligibility and enrollment
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or disclose this information for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This information is not sold to third parties
   5. Other Disclosures: This information may be disclosed to Processors and Affiliates. We disclose Personal Characteristics to enable our processors to provide customer service on our behalf.
   6. Retention Period: We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected
5. Category of Personal Information: Imprecise Geolocational
   1. Examples: Imprecise Geolocational may contain the following: Work location
   2. Purpose(s) for Collection: To perform HR services including determining candidate eligibility, applicability of benefits and policies, and to provide office access
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or disclose this information for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This information is not sold to third parties
   5. Other Disclosures: This information may be disclosed to Processors and Affiliates. We disclose Imprecise Geolocational to enable our processors to provide customer service on our behalf.
   6. Retention Period: We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected

The content below outlines the categories of Sensitive Personal Information 500 Global collects about Employees, Contractors, and Applicants and whether they are disclosed to third parties.

We collect Sensitive Personal Information from the following sources:

• Directly from our Employees, Contractors, and Applicants

1. Category of Sensitive Personal Information: Government ID Data
   1. Examples: Government ID Data may contain the following: government issued ID numbers including but not limited to Social Security, driver's license, passport, and identification card numbers
   2. Purpose(s) for Collection: Providing HR services including candidate assessment and payroll; compliance with statutory obligations
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or disclose this information for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This information is not sold to third parties
   5. Other Disclosures: This information may be disclosed to Processors and Affiliates. We disclose Government ID Data to enable our processors to provide customer service on our behalf.
   6. Retention Period: We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected
2. Category of Sensitive Personal Information: Sensitive Category Data
   1. Examples: Sensitive Category Data may contain the following: Racial or ethnic origin
   2. Purpose(s) for Collection: For internal tracking and compliance purposes
   3. Targeted Advertising: We do not engage in targeted advertising or disclose this information for targeted advertising purposes
   4. Sale: This information is not sold to third parties
   5. Other Disclosures: This information is not otherwise disclosed to third parties
   6. Retention Period: We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected

We use Personal Information for the purposes described above. Other examples of how we may use your Personal Information within 500 Global include:

• Publishing Employees’ work contact information in an intra-company directory for other Employees to view.
• Disclosing applicants’ submitted Personal Information with our HR department and other employees to process applications.
• Creating profiles of contractors’ performance based on work product.

Personal Information may also be used or disclosed as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

We disclose Personal Information to the following categories of third parties:

• Processors (also referred to as “Service Providers” or “Contractors” in California law): We use processors to securely handle Personal Information on our behalf for our business purposes and only on our instructions. California privacy laws and our contracts with these companies prevent them from using your Personal Information for their own purposes.
• Affiliates: We may disclose your information to our affiliates, subsidiaries, and representatives as part of our relationship with you.

See the content above for more details about how different categories of Personal Information are disclosed.

We do not sell Personal Information to anyone. We do not share Personal Information for advertising purposes.

California Employees, Contractors, and Applicants have the following rights under California privacy laws:

• The right to know the Personal Information we have collected about them, including the categories of sources from which we collected the Personal Information, the purpose(s) for collecting, selling, or sharing your Personal Information, and the categories of third parties to whom we have disclosed your Personal Information;
• The rights to correct, or delete Personal Information;
• The right to limit the use of Sensitive Personal Information in certain circumstances;
• The rights to opt out of targeted advertising, sales of Personal Information, or profiling; and
• The right not to receive discriminatory treatment for exercising their privacy rights.

If you are a California Employee, Contractor, or Applicant, you can submit a request to exercise your Personal Information rights under California privacy laws by clicking here and submitting the form: https://500.co/ccpa. You may also make any of these requests by calling (888) 680-2293 Ext. 5. Please be aware that we do not accept or process requests through other means (e.g., via fax, social media, etc).

To protect your privacy, we may need to authenticate your identity before we respond to your rights request. We will verify your identity by using commercially reasonable methods, including but not limited to email address verification.. If you do not complete the verification process, we may be unable to process your request. Any information you provide to authenticate your identity will only be used to process your rights request and not for any other purpose. Please be aware that we do not accept or process rights requests submitted through other means.

We will respond to your rights request within 45 days (or 15 days for requests to opt-out of the sale of Personal Information, requests to opt-out of targeted advertising, and requests to limit the use of Sensitive Personal information), though in certain cases we may inform you that we will need up to another 45 days to act on your request. If we suspect fraudulent or malicious activity on or from your account, we will delay taking action on your request until we can appropriately verify your identity and the request as authentic. Also note that each of the rights are subject to certain exceptions.

We reserve the right to decline to process, or charge a reasonable fee for, requests from a Employee, Contractor, or Applicant that are manifestly unfounded, excessive, or repetitive.

You have the right to limit some uses of Sensitive Personal Information. In general, you may direct companies not to use Sensitive Personal Information except as necessary to provide goods or services you have requested or other exempt purposes.

However, we only use Sensitive Personal Information for purposes that are exempt from this right, such as to provide you with goods or services you have requested, to detect and prevent security incidents, or verifying the quality of our goods and services. The full list of these exempt purposes are specified in California Code of Regulations, Title 11, Section 7027(m).

We do not knowingly collect or use the Personal Information of children under 16. If you believe that we have collected the Personal Information of a child under 16, please contact us at privacy@500.co.

California privacy law allows you to designate an authorized agent to make a rights request on your behalf. Your authorized agent may submit such a request by following the same method described above. We may require verification of your authorized agent in addition to the information for verification above for Employees, Contractors, and Applicants and households.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this California HR Privacy Notice, contact us at privacy@500.co.

Last updated: January 28, 2025

Terms of Use

These are the terms governing your use of this website (“Site”). To the extent that you have been directed to these terms from another 500 Startups website that may be hosted on a different domain, please note that these terms will also govern your use of such site. If in doubt as to whether a particular Site is governed by these terms, please contact legal@500startups.com. If you do not agree with these terms you may not use the Site or Services (as defined below).

This Terms of Service (this “Agreement”) sets forth the terms and conditions governing your use of the Site and your access to and use of the information, content and services offered on the Site and available on any associated distribution platforms and any public 500 Startups online social media accounts, platforms, and sites (collectively with the Site, the “Services”). By accessing or using the Services, you agree to be legally bound by this Agreement, as it may be amended from time to time.

500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. (together with its affiliates hereby referred to as “500 Startups”) provides investment advisory services only to privately offered 500 Startups funds and does not solicit nor make their services available to the public or other advisory clients.

Note all content provided on this Site and within the Services is provided for general informational or educational purposes only. 500 Startups makes no representations as to the accuracy or information contained on any page on this Site or within the Services. Unless otherwise indicated, the numbers represented in the Services provide a snapshot as at a particular time based on internal estimates which have not been independently verified and may change from time to time.

500 Startups has established the Site to provide information about its operations and investment advisory activities.

As a condition to your use of the Services, you will not, directly or indirectly: (a) use the Services to infringe the intellectual property rights of others; (b) use the Services or make any attempt to penetrate, modify or manipulate the Services to invade the privacy of any other user of the Services; (c) attempt to modify, erase or damage any information contained on the Site or any device connected to the Services; (d) reverse engineer any portion of the Services; (e) restrict or inhibit others from using the Services; (f) engage in conduct or distribute material that is harmful, obscene, otherwise illegal or objectionable, or gives rise to civil liability; (g) spoof or otherwise impersonate any individual or entity; or (h) violate or attempt to violate the security or integrity of the Services.

500 Startups reserves the right to investigate and to involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities, and to pursue a civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution for any alleged or actual harmful or illegal activities involving any of the Services. 500 Startups reserves the right, at any time, to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Services, with or without notice. Further, 500 Startups reserves the right to modify this Agreement at any time by posting a notice to the Site. You should visit the Site periodically to review the current terms and conditions.

The Site and the Services are intended solely to provide information regarding 500 Startups. The information provided on the Site and elsewhere pursuant to the Services, including information regarding current and historical portfolio investments by funds advised by 500 Global, is not intended as a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold any security or that you pursue any investment style or strategy. Under no circumstances is any content or information provided in the Services intended as, nor should you construe it as legal, tax, accounting, investment or other advice from 500 Global. Such content and information may not be used or relied upon in evaluating the merits of any investment. The past performance of any investment, investment style or strategy is not a guarantee of future results, and it should not be assumed that results for any portfolio companies listed on this Site or in content provided pursuant to the Services will be achieved for other investments.

Views expressed in “posts” (including podcasts, videos, blog posts and social media) are those of the individual 500 Startups personnel quoted therein and are not the views of 500 Global, unless explicitly stated. Where indicated the Services may include content from guest speakers and any views or opinions expressed in such posts are personal and do not represent those of 500 Startups or any of its staff or affiliates unless explicitly stated.

Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects and/or opinions expressed in the Services are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Any charts provided pursuant to the Services are for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Certain information contained in content provided in the Services has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by 500 Startups. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, 500 Global has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Content may contain forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from any expectations, projections or predictions made or implicated in such forward-looking statements.

The portfolio companies identified and discussed on this Site may not represent all of the portfolio investments of funds advised by 500 Global. The companies identified were not selected based on the return on the investment in them by funds advised by 500 Global. Such companies were selected as representative examples that clarify and typify 500 Global’s investment strategy and not as an exhaustive list of 500 Startups’ investments. These companies are updated from time to time and the note on the “Portfolio” or other relevant page lists the date of the most recent Site update. Portfolio companies listed on this Site may include a select sampling of investments across funds advised by 500 Startups as at the date indicated on the relevant page. At least one 500 Global fund has invested in one or more rounds of financing for each of the companies listed. Subject to relevant confidentiality restrictions, a full list of portfolio companies for a particular fund is available to prospective investors on request. Not every portfolio investment made by a 500 Global investment fund will participate in the 500 Startups Seed Program or Series A Program.  Any case study provided is shown for illustrative purposes as an example of potential ecosystem development or education services that could be provided by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C., and should not be considered as any advertisement or solicitation of interest to invest into any other 500 Global fund.

Under no circumstances should any information or content on this Site or within the Services be considered as an offer to sell or solicitation of interest to purchase any securities, including any securities advised by 500 Global or any of its affiliates or representatives. Further, no content or information on this Site or within the Services is or is intended as an offer to provide any investment advisory service or financial advice by 500 Global. Under no circumstances should anything herein be construed as fund marketing materials by prospective investors considering an investment into any 500 Global investment fund. Content contained in the Services including podcasts, videos, blog posts and social media is not directed to any investors or potential investors, and does not constitute an offer to sell — or a solicitation of an offer to buy — any securities, and may not be used or relied upon in evaluating the merits of any investment.

An offer to invest in a 500 Global-managed pooled investment vehicle will be made separately and only by means of the confidential offering documents of the specific pooled investment vehicles — which should be read in their entirety, and only to those who, among other requirements, meet certain qualifications under federal securities laws. Such investors, defined as accredited investors, are generally deemed capable of evaluating the merits and risks of prospective investments and financial matters. There can be no assurances that 500 Startups’ investment objectives will be achieved or investment strategies will be successful. Any investment in a vehicle managed by 500 Global involves a high degree of risk including the risk that the entire amount invested is lost. Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by 500 Global and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. Prospective investors should bear in mind that past results are not necessarily indicative of future results and there can be no assurance any portfolio company of any investment fund advised by 500 Global will achieve results comparable to those of any company listed on this Site or within content provided pursuant to the Services, or that any investment fund advised by 500 Global will achieve results comparable to  any prior or existing fund advised by 500 Global or its principals.

Note the intended audience for certain content on this Site and within the Services is prospective portfolio company founders considering applying to the relevant 500 Global investment fund for funding, to participate in the 500 Global Seed or Series A Programs or potential strategic partners and sponsors looking to engage 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C.’s strategic partnership services.

Under no circumstances should any statistics, quotations or other content be interpreted as testimonials or endorsement of the investment performance of any 500 Gobal funds by a prospective investor considering an investment into any 500 Global fund.

Any prospective investor should consult with any rely on his, her or its own personal legal counsel, accountant or other advisors as to the legal, tax, and economic implications of any investment opportunity and its suitability for such investor and 500 Global accepts no responsibility for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information on this Site, within the Services, or any site which is linked from this Site.

500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. is an exempt reporting adviser, complying with limited reporting requirements to the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (as amended) (the “Investment Advisers Act”), solely providing investment advice to venture capital funds. However, such classification as an exempt reporting advisor does not imply a particular level of skill or training or endorsement or supervision by any regulatory body. Other 500 Global entities operating outside of the United States may or may not be conducting similar activities to 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. and accordingly, may or may not necessarily have an equivalent regulatory registration or license.

While 500 Global has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained in these pages is accurate and up-to-date, no liability can be accepted for any error or omissions appearing in this Site or within the Services. Data presented on this Site and within the Services is based on internal estimates as the date indicated on the relevant page and has not been independently verified.

If you are in any doubt as to the validity of information made available in these pages, or if you wish to rely on this information, then it may be in your best interests to seek verification by contacting us.

The pages on this Site are issued in the United States, and comply with appropriate US legislation and regulation. The information provided on the Site is not intended for distribution to, or use in, any jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to law. You are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws and regulations. We welcome interest and enquiries from users worldwide. However, if you are accessing this Site from outside the US, local legislation and regulation may not permit us to provide services to you in your own country.

The vision and strategy strategy outlined herein represents the current strategy of 500 Global as at the date indicated on the relevant page, however, actual strategy or specific investment terms may vary at the discretion of 500 Global management or the general partner of the relevant fund depending on the investment mandate of the particular fund in question.

Note, 500 Startups programs, investor education services, strategic partnership consulting services and events are operated by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. and the funds advised by 500 Global do not participate in any revenue generated by these activities. Such programs and services are provided for educational and informational purposes only and under no circumstances should any content provided as part of any such programs, services or events be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. or any of its affiliates. 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. will under no circumstances provide nor should it be deemed to be providing investment advice as defined under the Investment Advisers Act. Any engagement of consulting services involving the provision of investment advice will not be with 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. and will be contracted through an affiliate which is appropriately qualified, and shall also be subject to the end-client satisfying certain regulatory conditions.

All logos and trademarks of third parties referenced on this Site are the trademarks and logos of their respective owners. Any inclusion of such trademarks or logos does not imply or constitute any approval, endorsement or sponsorship of 500 Global by such owners.

Please refer to the “Privacy Policy” for details of how 500 Global may use your details.

Staff listed represent a snapshot of the current team members as of the date indicated and may be subject to change from time to time and such information may not be current. The title “Partner” is used in accordance with customary business practice in the venture capital industry and does not indicate a legal status in a partnership.

This Site and Services may also provide a snapshot of members of the 500 Global mentor network who provide guidance to our portfolio companies as of the date indicated and may not include all mentors. Note mentors are not employees or independent contractors of 500 Global and any views or opinions represented by such mentors are personal and do not represent those of 500 Global or any of its personnel or affiliates

All content, materials, and software included in the Services are the property of 500 Global, and are protected by U.S. and international copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws. You may download and retain one copy of this Site only for your own records and personal use. No commercial use, resale, copying or exploitation of material from the Services is permitted without the express written permission of 500 Global and any other applicable copyright owner. All rights not expressly granted hereunder are expressly reserved to 500 Global. The Copyright Notice and Procedures are incorporated into this Agreement by this reference.

When creating products or materials using any of our marks or logos, please put the following tagline at the bottom of the page/ad/etc.: © 2020 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. All rights reserved. 500 Startups® and logo are trademarks of 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C.

Each of the marks below (except for #500Strong) have a corresponding logo which is also owned by 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C.

• 500®
• 500 Startups®
• #500Strong®
• Geeks on a Plane® conferences, events and travel
• GOAP™ conferences, events and travel
• Premoney® conferences and events
• 500 Luchadores™
• 500 Durians™
• 500 Mobile Collective™
• 500 Kimchi™
• 500 TukTuks™
• 500 Japan™
• 500 Istanbul™
• 500 Falcons™
• 500 Fintech™
• 500 Vietnam™
• 500 Korea™

The Site and content provided in the Services may link to third-party sites. These links are provided for your convenience, and 500 Global assumes no responsibility whatsoever for any content made available at any third party site. Any privacy policies of any third-party sites are governed by the operator of such site. 500 Global urges you to read the relevant legal terms and privacy policy (if any) of these third-party sites.

The Services are provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, express, implied, or statutory, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and title. 500 Global does not warrant the accuracy of the information contained on the Site or that the Services will be uninterrupted or error-free.

500 Global nor their affiliates, subsidiaries, licensors, or third-party service providers shall be liable for any damages of any kind arising out of your use of the Services, even if 500 Global has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some jurisdictions do not allow these limitations, so the foregoing may not apply to you. To the extent the foregoing limitation of liability is held to be unenforceable, the aggregate liability of 500 Global for any cause of action arising out of your use of the Services shall be limited to direct damages actually incurred up to $250.

You agree to indemnify and hold 500 Global, its respective subsidiaries, affiliates, and third-party service providers harmless from any claim, demand, cause of action, debt, loss or liability, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, to the extent that such action is based upon, arises out of, or relates to a breach of this Agreement or your use of the Services. This indemnity shall survive the termination of this Agreement.

The substantive laws of the State of California govern any disputes arising under this Agreement and your use of the Services, without regard to principles of conflict of laws. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the appropriate state and federal courts in the State of California with respect to claims you may have under this Agreement.

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and 500 Global with respect to its subject matter, superseding any prior agreements between you and 500 Global relating to such subject matter. The failure of 500 Global to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of this Agreement to be invalid, the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions, and the other provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect. The section headings used in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

If you have any questions about this Agreement, the Site or the Services, please contact 500 Global in the United States at legal@500.co

Effective February 6, 2018. 500 Global may make changes to this Agreement in the future. Last updated May 29, 2020.

Code of Conduct

500 Global prohibits and will not tolerate the following conduct by its staff and program participants. This list of prohibited conduct is illustrative only; other types of conduct that threaten security, personal safety, employee welfare and 500 Global’ operations also may be prohibited:

• Committing of or involvement in any act of harassment, discrimination or intimidation of another individual; and
• Discrimination during the course of recruiting and/or promotion of Employees.

To report any such misconduct, please submit a report here.

Accessibility

For accessibility support, requests, and feedback, please reach out to us at accessibility@500.co.