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Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy describes how WT FABA Biocatalyst LLP (“we” or “us”), the organizers of WhaleTank, collect, use, share, and protect personal information obtained through our website (www.whaletank.in) and related event registration forms or services. This policy applies to all users of our website and participants of WhaleTank events. By using our site or providing your information during event registration, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. We are committed to handling your personal data in compliance with applicable data protection laws in India and good industry practices.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of information:

  • Personal Information Provided by You: When you register for a WhaleTank event or contact us, we collect personal details such as your name, email address, phone number, job title, and company/startup name. As a startup participant, you will also provide information about your business (e.g. industry, stage, pitch deck, and other details in the application form). This information is collected to process your registration and facilitate your participation in the event.
  • Payment Information: When you pay the registration fee, you provide payment details. However, we do not directly collect or store your sensitive payment card data – payments are handled by our third-party payment gateway Razorpay (see Section 5: Payment Processing). We may receive a confirmation of your payment and basic transaction details (date, amount, status) from our payment processor, but not the card numbers or UPI credentials you use.
  • Automatically Collected Data: When you visit our website, certain information may be collected automatically via cookies or similar technologies. This can include your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and referral source. We use this data mainly to analyze site traffic and improve user experience. (See Section 7: Cookies for more detail.)
  • Event Media: We may capture photographs and videos during the WhaleTank event. These may incidentally include images or footage of participants and attendees. Such media may be considered personal data if individuals are identifiable. We use event media for the purposes of promoting our events (per the Publicity clause in Terms and Conditions) and archival records. If you have concerns about appearing in event photos or videos, please inform us, and we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate.
  • Communications: If you contact us via email, website form, or phone, we will collect the information you provide (such as your questions or feedback) along with your contact details to respond to you.
We do not collect any sensitive personal data like passwords, financial information (other than through the payment gateway), or government ID numbers directly through our site, except what you choose to provide in the registration form or communications.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for the following purposes:
  • Event Registration and Administration: Personal and startup information you provide is used to process your event registration, verify your identity, and determine eligibility. We use this information to shortlist startups for pitching and to organize event logistics (printing badges, coordinating pitches, etc.).
  • Communication: We use your contact information (email and/or phone) to send you important updates and notifications related to the event. This includes confirmation of registration, selection results (shortlisted or not), event schedules, reminders, and any changes or important announcements. We may also respond to your inquiries or support requests using your provided contact details.
  • Event Participation: During the event, we may use your name and affiliation for attendee lists or introductions. If you are pitching, we will use your provided pitch materials internally for the judging process. We will also use participant information to arrange amenities (e.g. meal planning).
  • Networking and Investor Access: One key purpose of WhaleTank is to connect startups with investors. Therefore, we will share the pitch decks and executive summaries you submit with the panel of investors and judges for evaluation. For startups that are not shortlisted to pitch on stage, we will still forward your deck and information to the investors so that your startup gets exposure. The information is shared for investment evaluation purposes only, and investors are instructed to treat your information responsibly. (However, as noted in the Terms, we cannot control what investors do with the information and are not liable for their use.)
  • Marketing (With Consent): If you explicitly consent (for example, by opting in to a newsletter or ticking a box during registration), we may use your contact information to send you occasional updates about future events, programs, or opportunities that we believe could be of interest to you. You can opt out of such communications at any time by contacting us or using the unsubscribe link if available. We will not spam you or add you to marketing lists without your consent (“No unsolicited marketing”).
  • Website Improvement: Automatically collected data (cookies, analytics) is used to improve our website’s functionality and content. For instance, understanding which pages are visited most can help us optimize our information flow. This data is generally aggregated and not used to personally identify any user.
  • Legal Obligations: We may process and retain certain information to comply with legal requirements or governmental requests, such as tax records for payments or information needed for audits. If required by law (e.g. responding to a court order or enforcing our Terms and Conditions), we may use or disclose necessary data..
We will not use your personal information for purposes unrelated to WhaleTank events without your prior consent.

4. Sharing and Disclosure of Information

We value your privacy and handle your data with care. We do not sell your personal information to third-party marketing companies. We only share information in the following contexts:
  • Investors and Event Partners: As noted, we share participant pitch information with our WhaleTank investor panel and judges. They receive your startup’s deck and may receive your contact information as provided in your pitch materials (e.g. founder email or phone) so they can reach out if interested. We may also share participant lists (names, startup names) with event partners or co-organizers if any, strictly for purposes of running the event.
  • Service Providers: We employ trusted third-party companies to facilitate our services (“service providers”). This includes:
  • Payment Processor: Razorpay, which processes your online fee payment (see Section 5 below).
  • Email/SMS Services: Providers that help us send out bulk emails or text messages for event communication. (e.g., Mailchimp for email newsletters, or an SMS gateway for text updates). They will have access to your contact info only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are not permitted to use it for other purposes.
  • Web Hosting and Analytics: Companies that host our website or provide analytics (e.g., Google Analytics) may automatically process some data (like IP addresses or cookies) for maintaining the site and analyzing usage. All these providers are bound by contracts that require them to protect your data and use it only for the specific services we need them to perform. They will only collect or use your info as needed to allow them to provide their services.
  • Legal Compliance: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid legal requests (such as a subpoena, court order, or government regulation). We may also disclose information if we believe it is necessary to investigate or prevent actual or suspected fraud, security issues, or violations of law, or to enforce our Terms and Conditions (for example, investigating misuse of our website).
  • Business Transfers: In the unlikely event that our organization undergoes a major business transaction, such as a merger, acquisition, or transfer of assets related to WhaleTank, the personal information we hold may be part of the assets transferred to the new entity. If such a transfer occurs, we will ensure that your data remains subject to confidentiality commitments and, where possible, give you notice before your personal data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Aside from the above, we will not share your personal information with any third parties unless we have your explicit consent to do so.

5. Payment Processing (Razorpay)

All online payments on our website for WhaleTank registration are handled through Razorpay, a reputable third-party payment gateway. When you make a payment, you will provide your credit card, debit card, UPI, or other payment details through Razorpay’s secure interface. We do not see or store your full payment account details (like card numbers or CVV). Razorpay may share with us a transaction ID or confirmation and the amount, but not sensitive card data.
We and Razorpay are committed to protecting your payment information. Razorpay is certified to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), which means they follow stringent protocols to protect cardholder data. All card information is encrypted and transmitted securely to Razorpay’s servers for processing[11]. Razorpay and our site do not store your card data on our servers once the transaction is completed, except for maybe the last few digits or tokenized information for record-keeping. Your transaction data is used only as long as necessary to process your payment and is then purged or anonymized.
For more information, you can review Razorpay’s own Privacy Policy and Terms. By making a payment, you agree to Razorpay processing your data for that purpose.

6. Data Security

We take reasonable precautions and follow industry best practices to safeguard your personal information. This includes implementing technical, physical, and administrative security measures to protect data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. For example: our website is hosted on secure servers, we use HTTPS encryption for data transmission, and we restrict access to personal data to authorized personnel only
However, please understand that no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. You share and provide information at your own risk, but we will do our best to maintain its safety. If we become aware of a data breach that compromises your personal data, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies (small text files stored on your device) and similar technologies to enhance user experience and analyze website traffic. Specifically:
  • Session Cookies: We use cookies to maintain your session on the website (for example, if you log in or to remember your preferences during a visit). This helps provide a consistent experience as you navigate pages. These cookies contain no personal identifiers beyond a random session ID.
  • Analytics Cookies: We may use Google Analytics or similar tools which set cookies to gather information on how visitors use our site (such as which pages are viewed, for how long, etc.). This data is aggregated and helps us improve the site’s content and layout. Individual identities are not derived from these analytics.
  • Our cookies do not collect personal data and are not used to personally identify you on other websites. You can control cookies through your browser settings – for example, you can choose to block or delete cookies. Note that if you disable cookies, some features of our site (like maintaining your session) may not function properly

8. Data Retention

We will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, as outlined in this policy, and for any applicable legal or reporting requirements. For example:
  • Basic registration data and event participation records may be kept for a few years to maintain a history of events and in case of any follow-up with investors or alumni network.
  • Contact information used for marketing will be retained until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it.
  • Transaction records (payments) are kept as long as required by financial regulations and tax laws.
When we no longer have a legitimate need or legal obligation to keep your personal data, we will securely delete or anonymize it. If complete deletion is not immediately feasible (e.g., stored in secure backups), we will isolate it and protect it until deletion is possible.

9. Your Rights and Choices

You have certain rights regarding your personal data with us (subject to applicable law):
  • Access and Correction: You may request details of personal information that we hold about you. If you believe that any information we have is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us to correct it.
  • Withdrawal of Consent: If we are processing your personal information based on your consent (for example, for marketing emails), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. You can opt out of newsletters by clicking “unsubscribe” in the email or by contacting us directly.
  • Deletion: You can request that we delete the personal data we hold about you. For example, if you no longer plan to participate in our events and want your data removed. We will honor such requests to the extent possible – however, note that we might need to retain certain information for legal compliance or legitimate business purposes (we will inform you if so).
  • Grievance and Complaints: If you have any concerns about how we are handling your data, please contact us (see Section 11: Contact Us). We will do our best to address your issue. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with a statutory data protection authority (in India, that would be under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 procedures, once established).
We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. Please note that for security, we may ask you to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests (like accessing or deleting data) to ensure that these actions are legitimately requested by you.

10. Third-Party Links and Services

Our website or communications might contain links to third-party websites or services (for example, a link to an article about our event or a partner’s site). If you click on a third-party link, you will be redirected to that site which is outside our control. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those external sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third- party sites or services before providing any personal information there. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or handling of information by any external sites. This includes the Razorpay payment page – while we ensure it’s secure and reputable, any information you provide on Razorpay’s pages is subject to Razorpay’s privacy terms.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update or modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will post the updated policy on this page with a new “Last Updated” date and, if appropriate, notify registered users via email or an announcement. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of our website or services after any changes to the Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of those changes.

12. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please reach out to us:
WT FABA Biocatalyst LLP (Organizers of WhaleTank)
  • Address: Plot No. 24, SY 74/6, Balamrai Co-op HSG Society, Mahendra Hills, Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana 500026, India
  • Email: coo@whaletank.in
  • Phone: +91 80746 48547
  • Website Contact Form:You may also contact us through the form on our website www.whaletank.in .

We will do our best to respond promptly to any inquiries. Your privacy and trust are important to us, and we are committed to resolving any issues in a fair and transparent manner.

Thank you for reading our Privacy Policy. By using our services, you acknowledge that you understand its contents and agree to our data practices