Privacy Policy

Funding Bridge helps South African businesses prepare for and pursue suitable funding opportunities. To provide our website and services, we may collect and process personal information about visitors, applicants, account holders, partners and other people who interact with us.

Funding Bridge complies with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013, commonly known as POPIA. We are committed to processing personal information lawfully, transparently and responsibly.

This Privacy Policy should be read together with our Terms of Service, Cookie Policy and any additional notices provided when you submit information to Funding Bridge.

The information we collect depends on how you use Funding Bridge. It may include:

• Contact details, such as your name, email address and mobile number.
• Business details, such as business name, funding needs and profile information.
• Information submitted through application, contact, support or subscription forms.
• Documents or supporting information that you choose to provide as part of a funding process.
• Communication records, including emails, support requests and related correspondence.
• Technical information, such as device information, browser type, IP address, usage data and cookie data.

We use personal information for purposes including:

• Providing, operating and improving the Funding Bridge website and services.
• Responding to enquiries, support requests and partnership communications.
• Helping businesses prepare funding-ready information and applications.
• Assessing funding requirements and identifying potentially suitable funding partners.
• Sending service-related communications and updates you have requested.
• Maintaining security, preventing misuse and protecting our legal rights.
• Complying with legal, regulatory, accounting and operational obligations.

Where applicable, Funding Bridge processes personal information on one or more lawful grounds, including:

• Your consent, where you have asked us to process information for a specific purpose.
• Performance of a contract or steps taken before entering into a contract.
• Our legitimate interests in operating, improving and securing our services.
• Compliance with legal or regulatory obligations.
• Protecting the rights, interests or safety of Funding Bridge, users, partners or the public.

We do not sell personal information. We may share information only where it is necessary and appropriate, including with:

• Trusted funding partners where this is relevant to your funding request.
• Service providers who support hosting, authentication, email, analytics, content management, security and operations.
• Professional advisers, auditors, regulators, law enforcement or courts where required.
• Parties involved in a business transfer, restructuring or similar transaction, subject to appropriate safeguards.

Where service providers process information on our behalf, we expect them to protect that information and use it only for the agreed purpose.

Funding Bridge may use cookies and similar technologies to keep the website secure, remember preferences, understand website usage, measure conversions and improve the user experience.

Non-essential cookies are used only where permitted by applicable law and, where required, after requesting consent. More detail is available in our Cookie Policy.

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

Retention periods may depend on the type of information, the nature of your relationship with Funding Bridge, legal and accounting requirements, dispute-resolution needs, security considerations and operational requirements. When information is no longer needed, we will delete, de-identify or archive it in line with applicable requirements.

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure systems, limited internal access and operational safeguards.

No digital service can guarantee absolute security. You should also take reasonable steps to protect your own account details, devices and communications.

POPIA gives data subjects rights in relation to their personal information. Subject to applicable law, you may have rights to:

• Be notified when personal information is collected or where required after unauthorised access.
• Ask whether we hold personal information about you.
• Request access to personal information that we hold about you.
• Request correction, update, deletion or destruction of personal information where appropriate.
• Object to certain processing activities on reasonable grounds.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Submit a complaint to the Information Regulator where applicable.

To exercise these rights, contact us using the details below. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

Funding Bridge may use third-party services to operate the website and platform, including hosting, authentication, database, content management, analytics and email providers. These services may process information according to their own privacy practices and contractual obligations.

Our website may also link to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites, and you should review their privacy notices before submitting personal information.

Questions about this Privacy Policy?

If you have any questions about how Funding Bridge processes your personal information, please contact us:

legal@fundingbridge.co.za