Who We Are
Investing Women Ltd.
Investing Women Ltd (T/A AccelerateHER) is a vibrant network of female founders and partners who share the passion to accelerate the growth, visibility and backing of talented female business founders and leaders.
We aim to facilitate a substantial improvement in female angel investment activity and female-led companies in the U.K. by helping to raise the knowledge, skills and networks of those involved. We also support women-led companies with business planning and pitch practice at our AccelerateHER Bootcamp events alongside larger events, accelerators, masterclasses and conferences, and the annual AccelerateHER Awards. We also support mentoring through our carefully selected partners.
In order to be able to undertake our work and inform our network about the activities and resources available to female angels and founders, we make use of personal information – almost wholly basic contact details – which users provide us with. In this notice you can read how we collect and use personal information, as well as your rights in relation to this. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Importantly, any personal data collected through this website and held by Investing Women Ltd and our associates is treated in line with the principles of the DPA (Data Protection Act) 2018 and UK GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
The website for Investing Women Ltd. is hosted by WordPress. Our Customer Relations Management System (CRMS) is Mailchimp, event activities are processed by Eventbrite or Microsoft Forms and any invoices are issued by Xero or directly from Eventbrite. Further information on their respective privacy policies can be found here: WordPress Privacy Policy, Mailchimp Privacy Policy, Eventbrite Privacy Policy, Xero Privacy Policy.
Please note that Investing Women Ltd acts as the general marketing function of Investing Women and trades as AccelerateHER. Further details on the privacy policy for our Members (i.e. Investing Women ‘Angels’ (IWA)) and the founders who are seeking / have sought direct investment from our IWA members are bound by the Privacy Notice from Investing Women Angels Ltd.
Processing and Use of Personal Information
Lawful Basis for Processing Personal Data
GDPR Art 6 (1) (a) Consent: the individual has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes.
(b) processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
Where users have previously bought or solicited products or services from Investing Women, ‘legitimate interests’ (GDPR Art 6 (1) (f)) may also act as a basis for legal processing and communication.
Data will be held in compliance with the GDPR as set out in our privacy policy and used in accordance with the specified purposes set out in this policy.
Purposes of Data Processing and Storage
To inform about news, events, projects, awards, mentoring, competitions, and other initiatives related to the work of Investing Women, including the ‘AccelerateHER’ programme. To hold and process invoices sent by users to Investing Women for event booking payments.
Communication from Investing Women may take the form of direct email correspondence or bulletins sent via our Mailchimp account. Notices may also include information about the activities of relevant partner organisations.
Where IWL shares personal data with a third party for it to use for its own or joint purposes, each organisation is a separate ‘data controller’. The sharing might be one-off, long-term or ongoing. The third party will be closely ‘related to’ IWL or the AccelerateHER Programme (such as key partners or sponsors of a specific project).
Sharing data with third parties will only occur when the data subject gives consent or the processing is necessary and subjects have a right to rectification, to restrict processing and the right to erasure. Sharing data include joint purpose business support, accelerators and mentoring requests and to enable the use of our or our Partners’ services and facilities securely and for us to deliver the services you have requested.
Data Retention and Rights of the Data Subject
Investing Women will keep personal information as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was obtained, in compliance with existing regulations and unless asked to delete it at an earlier time. Data subjects have the following rights, including the right to erasure (the ‘right to be forgotten’) as set out in GDPR Articles 12-23.
It is the responsibility of the Joint Controllers to observe these rights and act upon requests in relation to these rights from individuals whose personal data is held by Investing Women.
Data Controllers and Processers
The Joint Controllers and Processers of personal data on behalf of Investing Women are the following associates: Elaine Bone, Hollie Bruce, Alison Jones and Caroline Mitchell (Brightstar Scotland Ltd.), Elizabeth Pirrie and Jacqueline Waring. Investing Women’s associates are contactable at: info@investingwomen.co.uk and info@accelerateher.co.uk
Furthermore, Investing Women’s appointed accountant, Elizabeth Pirrie, will have access to personal data required for the purposes of processing event and membership invoices. She is contactable at: elizabeth@investingwomen.co.uk
Further third-party Data Controllers are CGI UK Ltd, Barclays Eagle Labs, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. Please see more on data-sharing with third parties in “Information Sharing and Third Parties” below.
Data Storage and Protection
Personal information may be stored in one of the following locations: Investing Women Dropbox Folder, Google Drive, OneDrive, Mailchimp, Eventbrite, Outlook (Investing Women Email host), WordPress, Microsoft Forms, Microsoft Teams, IWL associate’s hard-disk, Appointedd, Zoom, and Xero.
Users are encouraged to read the privacy and data protection policies of our data storage services, which can be found here: Dropbox Privacy Policy, Mailchimp Privacy Policy, Eventbrite Privacy Policy, Outlook Privacy Policy, WordPress Privacy Policy, Amazon Web Services Privacy Policy, Survey Monkey Privacy Policy, Appointedd Privacy Policy, Responster Privacy Policy, Google Privacy Policy, Xero Privacy Policy, Zoom Privacy Policy, Microsoft Privacy Policy. IWL hard-drives are password protected.
Under GDPR regulations, Investing Women staff, Data Controllers and Data Processors have a duty to report any data breach to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
Data Audit
Investing Women Ltd. retains an audit of the type of personal information held, where this data is held, and the purpose and legal basis for processing this data. This can be provided upon request.
Information Sharing and Third Parties
Investing Women Ltd. does not share personal information with third party organisations unless otherwise agreed by the data subject. Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may also need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our organisation or website.
In addition, select data belonging to AccelerateHER Programme participants will be shared and processed by named third parties. This is subject to the prior consent of participants and data will only be used for the purposes specified in the consent statement and any legitimate interests identified by named organisations. These can include: introducing you to other business contacts who we think might benefit your business by supporting your business at the stage it is at, for example, mentoring; where it is necessary to carry out our agreement or to take steps to enter into an agreement with you; or where you have requested/opted in so that we make such introductions. This includes access to the Barclays Eagle Labs support ecosystem, for example, when entering the AccelerateHER Awards or applying for jointly-ran event or accelerator.
At the time of writing, AccelerateHER Programme partners are: CGI UK Ltd, Barclays Eagle Labs, The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. More information about how this data is handled is available in IW’s Data Audit document, which is available upon request.
Information We Collect
Investing Women Ltd uses the Mailchimp platform as our customer relationship management system (CRMS) to organise our community of contacts. Our service to send out email bulletins is also Mailchimp. You can read more about their features and policies at www.mailchimp.com. You can also access their Privacy Statements and Terms and Conditions here: Mailchimp Privacy and Terms and Conditions.
User-Provided Information
You can provide us with information about yourself, such as your name and e-mail address, by registering with www.accelerateHER.co.uk, through our mailing list sign up via www.mailchimp.com or by submitting a webform enquiry, which are redirected to our info@accelerateHER.co.uk email address. We also collect user-provided information on applying for AccelerateHER programmes via Submit and/or Microsoft Forms. More information on Submit can be found in the Submit Privacy Policy.
If you correspond with us by email, we may retain the content of your email messages, your email address, and our responses. We may also retain any messages you send through www.accelerateher.co.uk
Newsletter and Website Registration
A user does not have to register to use Investing Women’s website, but a user must register if they wish to receive information and updates via email.
We use a third-party provider, Mailchimp, to deliver our newsletter. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information, please see Mailchimp’s privacy notice.
The registration information we require to allow a user to register is the full name and email address of the user if they wish to receive email updates. This information is stored securely on our database until such time as a user chooses to unsubscribe from receiving news stories. Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletters and other updates may opt-out of receiving these communications by clicking unsubscribe option on any email communication received or by contacting the Joint Controllers or Investing Women via the ‘contact us’ form on our website.
Event Ticketing and Membership Subscriptions
Event bookings and event ticketing are routed through Investing Women’s Eventbrite account. Those wishing to book for an event must complete the ticket order form detailing first name, last name and email address. Optional information may be provided by the user as displayed. To “pay by invoice”, users will also need to enter either an email address for an email invoice, or a postal address for a hard copy invoice.
Users have the option to purchase event tickets via an invoice request through Eventbrite or via PayPal. If using PayPal, users submitting financial information are encouraged to read the Privacy Policy for PayPal Services.
Financial information for invoice requests for events is held on Xero Accounting Software and is accessed by the Data Controller and our appointed accountant. More information on Xero can be found in the Xero Privacy Policy.
For our virtual AccelerateHER Bootcamps and Mentoring programmes, we use Microsoft Forms to apply for a place to attend. We collect first name, last name, email address and organisation. Optional information may be provided by the user as displayed. More information on Microsoft can be found in the Microsoft Privacy Policy.
In-Person Events
We typically provide an attendee list of names and organisational affiliation at our events to aid delegates with networking. Furthermore, we take photographs of proceedings in order to highlight or showcase Investing Women activities. You will be asked to provide consent for this use of your data in this way when signing up for events, and are freely able to refuse to provide this.
Online Events and Video Meetings
Our online events take place on Zoom or Microsoft Teams where data subjects are asked to provide their first name and last name when they log in. When event registration is required, they also must provide their email address.
Any personally-identifiable data shared by users during video calls is protected by the V.C. host privacy policy. If attending our Zoom events, users are encouraged to read the Privacy Policy for Zoom. Microsoft Teams privacy policy is available here.
IWL will inform participants of our intention to capture or store any personally identifiable information from online meetings or events in advance or at the beginning of these, and participants will be free to withdraw their consent at any time. We will handle user data received via these platforms in line with GDPR regulations, only collecting and processing data in line with Article 5 and the lawful bases in Article 6 cited above. Following online video meetings, IWL’s data processers may wish to save personally-identifiable information for internal reference (such as meeting recordings or comments left in the chat box). These will be protected by the privacy policies cited above. Where IWL wishes to share personally-identifiable information publicly (such as a screenshot for social media or video recording for promotional purposes), this will only be done with the express advance permission of the participants concerned.
Surveys
From time-to-time, we may request information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and address), and geographic information (such as postal code). Contact information will not be shared with any third parties unless we give prior notice and choice. Though we may use an intermediary to conduct these surveys or contests, they may not use users’ personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes, unless the data user explicitly provides their consent to do so.
Information Sharing – Legal Disclaimer
Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our organisation or website.
Website and Third Parties
Disclaimer
Investing Women Ltd. seeks to ensure that the information published on its website is up to date and accurate. However, the information on the website does not constitute legal or professional advice and Investing Women cannot accept any liability for actions arising from its use. Investing Women cannot be held responsible for the contents of any pages referenced by an external link.
Any personal data collected through this website and held by Investing Women, Brightstar Scotland or fellow Investing Women associates will be treated in line with the principles of the DPA (Data Protection Act) 2018 and UK GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
Web Services
When you visit www.accelerateher.co.uk, the website may send one or more cookies – a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters – to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser and lets the website help you log in faster and enhance your navigation through www.accelerateher.co.uk. A cookie does not collect personal information about you. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive after you close your browser. Persistent cookies may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser’s directions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of https://www.accelerateher.co.uk/ may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.
Google Analytics
Investing Women uses Google Analytics to help understand use of www.accelerateher.co.uk. This service collects the information sent by your browser as part of a web page request, including cookies and your IP address, and their use of it is governed by their Privacy Policy. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.
Cookies and Website Traffic Analysis
When users enter the Investing Women website, their device will automatically be issued with ‘cookies’. Cookies are text files which identify users’ computers to the Investing Women server. The website then creates “session” cookies to store some of the preferences of users moving around the website, e.g. retaining a text-only preference. Cookies in themselves do not identify individual users but identify only the device used and they are deleted on departure from the website. Many websites do this to track traffic flows, whenever users visit those websites.
The Investing Women website uses third-party cookies to measure use of the website including number of visitors, how frequently pages are viewed, and the city and country of origin of users. This helps to determine what is popular and can influence future content and development. For this purpose, the Investing Women website uses Real-time Analytics to measure and analyse usage of the website. The information collected by Investing Women will include IP Address, pages visited, browser type and operating system. The data will not be used to identify any user personally.
Users have the opportunity to set their devices to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user.
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Links
This Website contains links to other sites. Please be aware that Investing Women Ltd. is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites, and additionally cannot verify the accuracy of the information contained on external sites – by linking to them, we are not endorsing them. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every Website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement does not apply to information collected by other websites.
Changes and Notifications
Access and Changes to Your Personal Information
You have the right to request, change, or delete personal information we hold about you (such as postal code, phone, email or postal address). This can be done by sending a request to info@accelerateher.co.uk or contacting Investing Women via its website.
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, individuals whose personal data is held by Investing Women Ltd. have the right make a subject access request for their personal data processed by Investing Women for stated purposes. As stated earlier in this notice, data subjects have the following rights, including the right to erasure (the ‘right to be forgotten’) as set out in GDPR Articles 12-23.
Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, and other places we deem appropriate, so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If, however, we are going to use users’ personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users via email or by posting a notice on our Web site for 30 days.
Contact Information
If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact Investing Women at info@accelerateher.co.uk
Policy last updated: October 2022