Privacy Policy

1. Name and contact details of the data controller

This data protection information applies to data processing by:
Data controller: High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH (hereinafter: HTGF), Schlegelstraße 2, D-53113 Bonn, Germany, e-mail: info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de, Phone: +49 (0) 228 – 823001-00 Fax: +49 (0) 228 – 823000-50
HTGF’s company data protection officer can be contacted at dhpg IT-Services GmbH, Bunsenstr. 10a, 51647 Gummersbach, Germany, for the attention of Dr. Christian Lenz, or at datenschutz@dhpg.de or +49 (0) 2261-8195-0.

2. Rights of data subjects

You have the right:

to request information about your personal data processed by us in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR. If we process your data, you can request information in particular about the processing purposes, the category of personal data, the categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, in particular in the case of recipients in third countries, the planned storage period or the criteria for determining it, the existence of a right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right of appeal to a supervisory authority, the origin of your data if it was not collected by us, as well as the existence of automated decision-making including profiling and, if applicable, meaningful information on the details;
in accordance with Art. 16 GDPR, to immediately request the correction of incorrect or incomplete personal data stored by us;
in accordance with Art. 17 GDPR, to demand the deletion of your personal data stored by us, unless the processing is necessary in particular to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information, to fulfill a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest or to assert, exercise or defend legal claims;
in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR, to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data if the accuracy of the data is disputed by you, the processing is unlawful but you refuse to have it erased and we no longer need the data, but you need it to assert, exercise or defend legal claims or you have lodged an objection to the processing in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR and it is not yet clear whether our legitimate reasons outweigh your interests;
in accordance with Art. 20 GDPR, to receive your personal data that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to request the transfer to another data controller, provided that the processing is based on your consent or a contract and the processing is carried out using automated procedures;
in accordance with Art. 7 para. 3 GDPR, to revoke your consent once given to us at any time. As a result, we may no longer continue the data processing that was based on this consent in the future and
to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in accordance with Art. 77 GDPR. As a rule, you can contact the supervisory authority of your usual place of residence or workplace or our company headquarters.

3. Right to object

If your personal data is processed on the basis of legitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. e or f GDPR, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR, provided that there are reasons arising from your particular situation or the objection is directed against direct advertising.
In the former case, we will no longer process your data unless we can prove compelling reasons that outweigh your interests, freedoms and rights or our processing serves the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims.
In the latter case, you have a general right to object, which will be implemented by us without specifying a particular situation. If you wish to exercise your right of revocation or objection, simply send an e-mail to info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de.

4. Disclosure of data

Your personal data will not be transferred to third parties for purposes other than those listed below. We only pass on your personal data to third parties if:

you have given your express consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR,
the disclosure pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR is necessary for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims and there is no reason to assume that you have an overriding interest worthy of protection in not disclosing your data,
in the event that there is a legal obligation for disclosure pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR, and
this is legally permissible and necessary for the processing of contractual relationships with you in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b GDPR.

In addition, our processors receive your personal data for processing in accordance with instructions, insofar as this is necessary to fulfill the order. Our processors do not have their own right to use your data.

5. Data security

We use the widespread SSL (Secure Socket Layer) method in conjunction with the highest level of encryption supported by your browser when you visit our website. As a rule, this is a 256-bit encryption. If your browser does not support the 256-bit encryption, we use 128-bit v3 technology instead. You can see whether an individual page of our website is transmitted in encrypted form by the closed key or lock symbol or by the use of https in front of the address of our (sub)website. We also use suitable technical and organizational security measures to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or unauthorized access by third parties. Our security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments.

6. Third countries

We only transfer data to third countries in accordance with the statutory regulations.
The permissibility of data transfer to third countries is governed by Art. 44 et seq. GDPR. If we transfer your data to a third country, you will be informed about this in the special data protection information for the respective processing process, stating the respective legal regulation.

Special data protection information for the data processing processes on the website

1.When visiting the website

When you visit our website, the browser used on your device automatically sends information to the server of our website. This information is temporarily stored in a so-called log file. The following information is collected without any action on your part and stored until it is automatically erased:

IP address of the requesting computer,
date and time of access,
name and URL of the retrieved file,
website from which access is made (referrer URL),
the browser used and, if applicable, the operating system of your computer and the name of your access provider.

We process the aforementioned data for the following purposes:

ensuring a smooth connection to the website,
to ensure a comfortable use of our website,
evaluation of system security and stability and
for other administrative purposes.

The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the operation of our website and the associated presentation of our company.
Your data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the stated purposes, at the latest after 6 months.

If you have expressly consented in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR, we will use your email address to send you our newsletter on a regular basis. To receive the newsletter, it is sufficient to provide an email address. You can voluntarily provide your name so that we can address you personally in the newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time, for example via a link at the end of each newsletter. Alternatively, you can also send your unsubscribe request at any time to info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de by e-mail.
We store your data until you withdraw your consent.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
We use the services of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing to send newsletters. The provider is Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, One Microsoft Court, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, D18 DH6k (hereinafter „Microsoft“).
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing is a service with which, among other things, the dispatch of newsletters can be organized and analyzed. If you enter data for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter (e.g. e-mail address), it will be stored on Microsofts’s servers.
We have concluded an data processing agreement with Microsoft. The data may therefore only be processed by Microsoft in accordance with our instructions for the purposes described here. Microsoft does not process the data for own purposes.
By means of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing, we can analyze our newsletter campaigns. When you open an email sent with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing, a file contained in the email (known as a web beacon) connects to Microsoft’s servers. This enables to determine whether a newsletter message has been opened and which links, if any, were clicked. Technical information is also collected (e.g. time of access, IP address, browser type and operating system). This information cannot be assigned to the respective newsletter recipient. It is used exclusively for the statistical analysis of newsletter campaigns. The results of these analyses can be used to better adapt future newsletters to the interests of the recipients.
If you do not wish to be analyzed by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing, you should unsubscribe from the newsletter. We provide a link for this purpose in every newsletter message. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.
The data processing takes place on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). You can withdraw this consent at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. The legality of the data processing operations that have already taken place remains unaffected by the withdrawal.
The data you provide us for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter will be stored by us until you unsubscribe from the newsletter and will be erased from our servers as well as from the servers of Microsoft after you unsubscribe from the newsletter.
You can find more details in Microsoft’s privacy policy at: Microsoft Privacy Statement – Microsoft privacy.

3. Surveys and event invitations

Contact information of our customers, partners and interested parties, such as e-mail address, is used to receive surveys and event information from HTGF (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 f) GDPR). This is lawful due to our existing legitimate interest. Our legitimate interest is to inform our customers, partners and interested parties about events and to receive feedback from them via surveys.
If you no longer wish to participate in the above surveys or no longer wish to be invited to events, you can object to the processing of your data at any time, for example via a link at the end of each e-mail. Alternatively, you can also send your unsubscribe request at any time to info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de by e-mail.

4. For an application

a) When using the applicant portal
It is particularly important to us to guarantee the highest possible level of protection for your personal data. All personal data collected and processed by us as part of an application is protected against unauthorized access and manipulation by technical and organizational measures.
We require your personal data in the application documents in order to be able to consider you as an applicant in the application process and to check whether you are suitable as an employee of our company. If you provide information that goes beyond this required information, you provide it to us voluntarily and declare your consent to the processing.
The legal basis for the processing is therefore Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a and b GDPR in conjunction with Sec. 26 of the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). You can withdraw your consent at any time. You can send your revocation at any time to info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de by e-mail.
After completion of the application process, we will store your documents for 4 months for evidence purposes.
For a possible conclusion of a contract, it is necessary that you provide us with your personal data in the application documents. Otherwise we will not be able to consider you in the application process.
The data entered in the application portal as part of your application will be transmitted using TLS encryption and stored in a database. This database is operated by Personio SE & Co KG (Seidlstraße 3, 80335 Munich, Germany), which offers personnel administration and applicant management software. Personio is our processor in this context in accordance with Article 28 GDPR. We have concluded a data processing agreement with Personio. Personio may only process this data in accordance with our instructions and not for its own purposes. In addition and in order to provide its services, Personio SE & Co KG processes further data, maybe also personal data, in particular for the operation of the recruiting site. Further information can be found at https://htgf.jobs.personio.de/privacy-policy

b) When using the applicant postcard
We process your name, your e-mail address, your telephone number and your position request for the purpose of handling the application process and in particular for contacting you in this regard (legal basis is Art. 6. para. 1 b) GDPR in conjunction with. § 26 para. 1 BDSG). We store your data for 4 months if no position corresponding to your request is to be filled at the time of application. If you are hired after the application process, we will store the data for the duration of your employment relationship. If you are not considered for employment, we will erase your data 4 months after the end of the application process.

5. When submitting the pitch deck

You have the option of sending us your pitch deck via a form on our website. This requires you to provide your name, e-mail address, telephone number and information about your company.
We use this data to check whether your company meets our investment criteria and to contact you for a possible financing.
If your company meets the criteria, we will also make the data available to potential investors who are interested in investing in your company. Investors are, of course, obliged to treat your information confidentially.
The indications are required for the initiation or fulfillment of the contract. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b) GDPR.
We store the data for the duration of the statutory retention periods of up to 10 years.

6. Cookies, analysis tools, plugins and other third-party elements

We use cookies on our website. These are small files that your browser automatically creates and that are stored on your end device (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.). Cookies do not cause any damage to your end device and do not contain any viruses, Trojans or other malware. Information is stored in the cookie resulting from the specifically used end device. However, this does not mean that we obtain direct knowledge of your identity.
Analysis tools are used to evaluate the user behavior of website visitors and thus enable to optimize the website and adapt marketing measures.
Plugins and other third-party elements are used to integrate content from these providers into a website.

a) Required first-party cookies
The use of our required first-party cookies serves to make the use of our website more pleasant for you. For example, we use so-called session cookies to recognize that you have already visited individual pages of our website. These are automatically erased after you have left our site.
In addition, we also use temporary cookies to optimize user-friendliness, which are stored on your end device for a specified period of time. If you visit our website again in order to use our services, it is automatically recognized that you have already visited us and which entries and settings you have made so that you do not have to enter them again.
This data will be deleted after 6 months at the latest.
We process your data on the basis of our legitimate interest in the external presentation of our company via the website you have accessed and to promote user-friendliness. The legal basis for the processing is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR.
Most browsers accept these cookies automatically. However, you can configure your browser so that no cookies are stored on your computer or a message always appears before such a cookie is created. However, completely deactivating cookies may result in the website not being displayed correctly or you not being able to use all the functions of our website.

b) Third-party cookies, analysis tools, plugins and other third-party elements
The third-party cookies, analysis tools, plugins and other third-party elements listed below and used by us are only used with your express consent and thus on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR. You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future. To do so, you can change your settings here. Failure to grant or revoke consent may result in the website not being displayed correctly or you not being able to use all the functions of the website.
We use third-party cookies, analysis tools, plugins and other third-party elements to ensure that our website is designed to meet your needs and is continuously optimized. We also use tracking measures to statistically record the use of our website and evaluate it for the purpose of optimizing our offer for you.
The respective function descriptions, any recipients of the data, information on possible transfers to a third country and the storage period can be found in the following information on the individual processing processes provided with third-party cookies, analysis tools, plug-ins and other third-party elements.

(1) Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland; hereinafter referred to as “Google”) for the purpose of designing and continuously optimizing our pages to meet the user’s needs. In this context, pseudonymized user profiles are created and cookies (see lit. 4) are used. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website such as

browser type/version,
operating system used,
referrer URL (the previously visited page),
host name of the accessing computer (IP address),
time of the server request,
are transmitted to a Google server and stored there. The information is used to evaluate the use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage for the purposes of market research and the needs-based design of this website. Under no circumstances will your IP address be merged with other Google data. The IP addresses are anonymized so that they cannot be assigned (IP masking).
Google also uses the collected data for own purposes. You can find Google’s privacy policy and terms of use at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

(2) YouTube
We use social plugins from Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland; hereinafter “YouTube”) on our website to integrate videos into our website that supplement the content.
The YouTube cookies are only used with your express consent and thus on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR. You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future. To do so, you can change your settings using the corresponding button under each video. If you do not grant or withdraw consent this may entail that the videos are not shown to you.
We integrate these plug-ins using the so-called two-click method in order to protect visitors of our website in the best possible way. This means that your personal data (in particular your IP address) is not transmitted to YouTube as soon as you access the website. Instead, you must first activate the integrated “buttons” and videos by clicking on them. With this click, you give your consent for a connection to be established with the YouTube servers and for data to be transmitted. We also use the extended data protection mode with the “youtube-nocookie” in order to transmit as little data as possible.
Google also uses the collected data for its own purposes. If you are logged in to Google at the same time, this information will be assigned to your YouTube member account. You can prevent this by logging out of your member account before visiting our website.
Information is also transferred to the parent company Google Inc. in the USA and to other Google companies and Google partners outside the EU. Google has concluded the standard contractual clauses for this, unless these are secure third countries for which an EU adequacy decision exists. The privacy policy and terms of use for YouTube can be found at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

(3) Podigee podcast hosting
We use the podcast hosting service Podigee from the provider Podigee GmbH, Schlesische Straße 20, 10997 Berlin, Germany. The podcasts are loaded by Podigee or transmitted via Podigee. We integrate this plugin using the so-called two-click method in order to protect visitors of our website in the best possible way. This means that your personal data (in particular your IP address) is not transmitted to Podigee GmbH when you access the website. Instead, you must first activate the integrated podcast player by clicking on it. With this click, you give your consent for a connection to be established with the Podigee servers.
Podigee processes IP addresses and device information in order to enable podcast downloads/playbacks and to determine statistical data, such as call-up figures. This data is anonymized or pseudonymized before being stored in Podigee’s database, unless it is required for the provision of the podcasts.
Further information and objection options can be found in Podigee’s privacy policy: https://www.podigee.com/de/about/privacy/.

7. Up-to-dateness and amendment of the privacy policy

This privacy policy is currently valid and is dated May 2024. Due to the further development of our website and offers on it or due to changed legal or official requirements, it may become necessary to change this privacy policy. You can access and print out the current privacy policy at any time on the website at https://high-tech-gruenderfonds.de/de/datenschutzerklaerung/ .