Privacy Policy for Startup47

Effective Date: August 31, 2025

This Privacy Policy describes how Startup47 ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and discloses your information when you use our website and services (the "Service").

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this policy, please do not access or use the Service.

1. Information We Collect

We collect various types of information in connection with the Service, including:

a. Personal Information You Provide

When you create an account, log in, or interact with our Service, you may provide us with personal information, such as:

• Contact Information: Your name, email address, and any other information you provide during registration or profile setup.
• Content Information: Information you submit when you post comments, like articles, bookmark articles, or interact with other features of the Service.
• Authentication Information: Credentials used to log in (e.g., Firebase authentication tokens).

b. Information Collected Automatically

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

• Device Information: IP address, browser type, operating system, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information.
• Usage Information: Details of how you use our Service, including the articles you view, search queries, features you interact with, and the time and date of your visits.
• Location Information: We may infer your general location (city, country) from your IP address to provide localized news content. We do not collect precise GPS location without your explicit consent.
• Cookies and Similar Technologies: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like local storage) to track activity on our Service and hold certain information. These are used for:
  • Authentication: To keep you logged in.
  • Preferences: To remember your theme preference (dark/light mode).
  • Analytics: To understand how users interact with our Service.
  • Local State: To store anonymous likes or bookmarks before a user logs in.

c. Information from Third Parties

We may receive information from third-party services integrated with our platform, such as:

• Firebase: For user authentication, database storage (Firestore), and file storage (Storage).
• NewsData.io: For fetching news articles. We do not share your personal data with NewsData.io.
• Gemini AI: For summarizing, generating long-form content, and categorizing articles. We send article content (title, description) to Gemini AI for processing.
• Imagen API (Hypothetical): For generating article images. We send article titles to this API for image generation.
• LinkedIn: If you choose to use our "Create LinkedIn Post" feature, we will send article details (title, description, URL, image URL) to our backend, which then interacts with the LinkedIn Marketing API on your behalf. This requires you to be logged in and authenticated.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:

• To Provide and Maintain the Service: To deliver news content, enable user accounts, and operate the core functionalities of the app.
• To Personalize Your Experience: To show you relevant news, remember your preferences, and tailor content based on your interests and location.
• To Improve Our Service: To understand how users interact with the Service, troubleshoot issues, and develop new features.
• To Communicate with You: To send you important updates, notifications, or respond to your inquiries.
• For Security and Fraud Prevention: To protect the integrity and security of our Service and prevent fraudulent activities.
• For Analytics and Research: To analyze usage patterns, conduct research, and generate aggregated, anonymized statistics.
• To Facilitate AI-Powered Features: To send article content to Gemini AI for summarization, long-form content generation, and categorization, and to Imagen API for image generation.
• To Facilitate Social Sharing: To enable features like creating LinkedIn posts based on articles you select.

3. How We Share Your Information

We may share your information in the following circumstances:

• With Service Providers: We may share your information with third-party vendors and service providers who perform services on our behalf, such as hosting, analytics, and AI processing (e.g., Firebase, Google Cloud AI services). These providers are obligated to protect your information.
• With Other Users: If you post comments or interact with public features, your username/email (or a derived identifier) and content may be visible to other users.
• For Legal Reasons: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court order or government agency).
• To Protect Our Rights: We may disclose information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, or situations involving threats to the safety of any person.
• Business Transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction.
• With Your Consent: We may share your information with third parties when we have your explicit consent to do so.
• Aggregated or Anonymized Data: We may share aggregated or anonymized information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you with third parties for various purposes, including business or research.

4. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. When your personal information is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it.

5. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Deletion: Request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions.
• Objection: Object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Withdraw Consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided below.

6. Security

We implement reasonable security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

7. Third-Party Links

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

8. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 13 ("Children"). We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from Children. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from Children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

10. Contact Us