BizEquity Privacy Statement

Effective Date of Privacy Policy: January 1, 2020

Your Privacy: Overview

This privacy policy (“Policy”) tells all persons who access the Sites (“you”) about the information that BizEquity. (“BizEquity”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects from you in connection with your use of the www.bizequity.com and/or blog.bizequity.com sites and our private and/or white label versions of the same (collectively, the “Sites”) and how such information is used. Throughout this Policy, “Your business” means the business, profession or activity that is the subject of the information you enter on a Site. “BizEquity” means BizEquity LLC and its affiliates, successors and assigns.

If you use our Sites in a manner contrary to the terms and conditions of this Policy, or the laws, regulations, treaties and legal requirements of any applicable jurisdiction, or in contravention or violation of any applicable law or rule that applies to you in your country, community or governing jurisdiction (the “Law”), you do so at your own risk and in any such instance of use, YOU, not we, are responsible for compliance with the Law.

By using the Sites, you agree to this Policy. If you do not agree to this Policy, do not use the Sites.

This Policy does not apply to other entities' websites that are not controlled or operated by BizEquity, even if BizEquity provides links to those websites.

Types of Data We Collect

Business Information

We collect and retain all information provided to us and concerning or related to your business or businesses accessing our hosted private labelled service offering (Sites), including your identifiable business information (meaning any information that identifies or is identifiable to your business, profession or activity)(collectively “business information”). This includes information entered online or otherwise submitted by you in connection with your business, with your performance of your position at your business, with the products or services offered by your business, and/or with a service or product provided on or through any of our Sites. We also collect, and you agree by your use of the Sites that we may collect, business information offline about your business from third parties, including business owners and principals, creditors, vendors and suppliers, and from public records such as business registrations, Uniform Commercial Code filings, patent and trademark filings, and bankruptcy filings. The business information that we collect includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Company and business professional contact information, including name, title, address, phone number, fax number and e-mail address;
• Information regarding capitalization, ownership, revenue, profitability, debts, assets, liabilities, taxes, inventory, general depreciation, cash flow, fixed assets, accounts receivable, net worth and business relationships;
• Information regarding real estate owned or leased by the company
• Information about insurance coverage and risk management planning
• Company profiles and statistics, including number of employees, salary information, benefits information and positions;
• Information regarding your company's management, such as the educational and career histories of company principals;
• Company operational histories, including territories, subsidiaries, affiliates and lines of business;
• Information regarding company's intellectual property (e.g. types of patents, trademarks);
• Trade and business credit information, including payment histories and patterns;
• Business professional data as it relates to professional lives, such as name, company, title, business contact information and trade associations; and
• Credit/debit card information in order to process certain customer payments.

Personally Identifiable Information

We may collect information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single individual (as opposed to a business, profession or activity) or can be used with other sources to uniquely identify a single individual. We will only collect this information if it is necessary to fulfill or provide a product or service, and we will only use this information for the limited, permissible purpose for which it is collected, and for no other purpose. Further, we will take commercially reasonable steps to adequately secure the information.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information

We may also collect non-personally identifiable information in connection with the operation of the Sites or as otherwise disclosed herein, including IP addresses, browser types, HTTP request headers, browser or operating system information, publicly available third party data associated with your business, and data on advertisements or links on which you click. We routinely use this information in the aggregate in order to administer and improve our Sites. While some of this data may be traceable to an individual, we only use this information to identify specific individuals whom we believe are using our Sites for improper purposes.

Where you provide BizEquity any personally identifiable information, business information, or other non-personally identifiable information, you are representing and warranting that you have the right and authority to provide such information.

Types of Data We Collect Through Technology

Accessing the Sites may result in the placement of a “cookie” or flash object on your computer by BizEquity or third party advertisers. This is done for such purposes as, enabling you to use our Sites, for security purposes, to make your repeated experience more convenient, to maintain your authentication, to produce usage statistics, for debugging purposes, to allow third parties to deliver targeted advertising to you when you visit our Sites or third party websites, and to compile and analyze user information.

Cookies are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer's hard drive while you are viewing a website. BizEquity may use both those cookies which expire once you close your browser and those which stay on your computer until you delete them. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies, by changing your web browser's settings. If you disable your cookies, however, you may not be able to access the Sites.

BizEquity's Use of Data

BizEquity may use your information to improve our service offering; track and analyze system and site performance; enhance our patented algorithm; or record trends, data elements, and user or site behavior.

BizEquity may use your information to provide you with information, products or services requested by you or your advisor; and to enforce our terms and agreements with you or to otherwise effectuate our rights and remedies under applicable law or to protect BizEquity, the Sites, or Site users from actual or threatened harm.

BizEquity may disclose all data and information you provide in connection with a sale or transfer of BizEquity, so long as the recipient agrees to be subject to the same terms with respect to the use of information as apply to us.

BizEquity makes a concerted effort to restrict access to your information to those individuals who have a need to know that information to provide information, products or services to you, and to maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard your information.

BizEquity reserves the right to disclose your information (i) if required to do so by law or legal process, or otherwise requested by any law enforcement officer or agency acting under the color of law; (ii) if necessary or appropriate to protect or defend the rights or property of BizEquity; or (iii) if necessary or appropriate to act in urgent circumstances to protect the safety or security of the public or of users of BizEquity's products, services, and/or the Sites.

BizEquity may use all data and information you provide on your private labelled BizEquity Site, including your business information, to create, update, merge, analyze, maintain, or enhance its database of business records, which business records are used to create, and are included within, the publicly available Sites.

BizEquity uses information we collect to track, compile, and analyze business information. This analytics information, as well as aggregated usage and other aggregated data, and volume analytics, use and similar statistical information, from and about our users is the property of BizEquity and as such may be used by BizEquity.

BizEquity will not disclose, license, transfer, sell, use, and/or otherwise share all data and information you provide us with the public generally.

BizEquity may use your information and data for, but not limited to, the following purposes: (i) to improve the products and services offered or provided through the Sites; (ii) to troubleshoot problems with the Sites; (iii) to customize your experience or homepage on the Sites; (iv) to enable you to display certain information in or in association with your user profile on the Sites; (v) to enhance or improve your user experience; (vi) to enforce our terms and agreements with you or to otherwise effectuate our rights and remedies under applicable law or to protect BizEquity, the Sites, or Site users from actual or threatened harm; or (vii) to contact you with more information about the Sites, BizEquity, BizEquity's affiliated companies and partners, or BizEquity products and services.

Security

Unfortunately, no security system or system of transmitting data over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we undertake commercially reasonable efforts to protect your information, we cannot guarantee the security of our servers, the means by which information is transmitted between your computer and our servers, or any information provided to us or to any third party through or in connection with the Sites. You provide all such information entirely at your own risk.

Choice and Opt-Out Preferences

You may receive email communications from BizEquity and third parties relating to the Sites or other products or services. You will have the ability to unsubscribe from marketing communications by means of a link provided in any such emails that are sent to you by BizEquity. Any email opt-out shall not apply to emails permitted by applicable law, such as messages relating to any transaction you have requested or your relationship with us.

As discussed above, you may also opt-out of having information collected by or shared with third parties, such as for the purpose of serving targeted advertisements, by contacting us at office@bizequity.com for more information or to opt-out. Additionally, if, at any time after using the service, you change your mind about allowing your information to be shared with third parties, please send us a written request specifying your new choice, and we will make every effort to accommodate your new choice within 30 calendar days of receipt of your request.

Access to your Information

At your request, where the law requires us to do so, BizEquity will confirm what personal information we have about you, provide you with information about the ways in which the personal information may have been used or disclosed during the past year, update your information, remove your information, and/or correct any inaccuracies in such personal information. We will make every concerted effort to respond to your request in a timely manner.

Notice to California Customers - Your Privacy Rights

1. Consumer Privacy. The California Consumer Privacy Act, Cal. Civ. Code §1798.100 et. seq. (“CCPA”), grants residents of California certain rights with respect to their Personal Information and requires us to provide such individuals with certain information, described in this Section X(A).
   1. California residents may exercise the following rights by contacting our Privacy Policy Coordinator by email at ppc@bizjournals.com or phone at 800-883-7323, or as described at the end of this document:
      • Know the ways in which we acquire, use, share, disclose and otherwise process your Personal Information
      • Know the specific pieces of your Personal Information that we hold;
      • Request the deletion of your Personal Information, subject to several exceptions; and
      • Not to be denied goods or services for exercising these rights
   2. California residents also have the right to opt-out of the “sale” of their Personal Information. We put “sale” in quotation marks because the CCPA considers some transfers of Personal Information to third parties in exchange for value as “sales,” even if no money changes hands, such as when online identifiers, Device IDs, and other information is shared with Third Party Businesses to further their own commercial purposes such as generating profiles about individuals. California residents can exercise this right here: Do Not Sell My Personal Information. If we have actual knowledge that a California resident is younger than 16, we will request opt-in consent before selling their Personal Information. Note that we can still share Personal Information with third parties if those transfers aren’t “sales,” such as with our Service Providers.
   3. Depending on the circumstances and which Service you use, we have disclosed the following categories of your Personal Information for a “business purpose” (as defined in the CCPA) in the preceding twelve (12) months:
      • Identifiers
      • Protected characteristics
      • Commercial information
      • Geolocation data
      • Internet or other electronic network activity information
      • Financial, medical, or health insurance information
      • Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information
      • Professional information
      • Education information
      • Inferences drawn from any of the above information categories.
   4. Depending on the circumstances and which Service you use, we have “sold” (as defined in the CCPA) the following categories of your Personal Information in the preceding twelve (12) months:
      • Identifiers
      • Protected characteristics
      • Commercial information
      • Geolocation data
      • Internet or other electronic network activity information
      • Inferences drawn from any of the above information categories, along with the following categories: (i) financial, medical, or health insurance information; (ii) audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information; (iii) professional information, and (iv) education information.
2. Shine the Light. California’s "Shine the Light" law, Civil Code Section 1798.83, gives California customers the right to prevent our disclosure of their Personal Information to third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes, and requires certain businesses to respond to requests from California customers asking about the business' practices related to disclosing Personal Information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. Alternately, such businesses may have in place a policy not to disclose Personal Information of customers to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes if the customer has exercised an option to opt-out of such information-sharing. We have such a policy in place. As discussed above in Section X(A)(2), California residents can exercise their right to opt-out here: Do Not Sell My Personal Information.
3. Online Erasure. California’s "Online Erasure" law, Business and Professions Code Sections 22580-22582, requires operators of certain websites and online services to allow registered users who are under the age of 18 and residents of California to request removal of Content they post. If you fit that description and posted Content on a section of our Service that is directed to minors, you may request removal of the Content by contacting our Privacy Policy Coordinator by email or as described at the end of this document. In response to your request, we may elect to make the Content invisible to other users and the public (rather than deleting it entirely), in which case the Content may remain on servers we control and/or may be publicly available elsewhere if a third party copied and reposted the Content.

Your Acceptance of this Policy and Revisions to this Policy

BizEquity reserves the right to update and revise this Policy at any time. You can determine if this Policy has been revised since your last visit by referring to the “Effective Date of Statement” date at the top of this page. Your use of the Sites constitutes your acceptance of the terms of this Policy as amended or revised by us, and you should therefore review this Policy regularly to ensure that you are aware of its terms.

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