Privacy policy

Part 1: Why is this Privacy Statement important to you?

The purpose of this policy is to inform you about how House of Start-ups S.A. (hereinafter “HoST”) collects and processes your personal data through its website and other platforms (hereinafter “your Data”), in accordance with the rules established by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data (hereinafter the “GDPR”). In addition, the Luxembourg Law of 1 August 2018 on the protection of personal data applies.

Through this Privacy Statement, we wish to inform you about:

The personal data we collect about you and how we use it.
The recipient(s) of your Data.
Why we are authorised to use your Data.
Your rights and choices regarding your Data.

Identity of the Data Controller

House of Startups, incorporated as a public limited company (société anonyme) under Luxembourg law, with its registered office at 9, rue du Laboratoire, L-1911 Luxembourg, is responsible for processing your Data. HoST is registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (RCS) under registration number RCS HoST B217866.

Part 2: What Data do we collect about you and how do we use it?

“Personal data” means any information relating to you, the “data subject”, through which you can be identified.

HoST does not collect personal data other than the data that you voluntarily provide through its website and other tools (such as GlueUp, Outlook, etc.). The same applies when you submit a request for information or register for an event organised by HoST.

Below is a list of the types of personal data we may collect about you:

Identification data, such as your first name, last name, email address and telephone number;
Professional and employment data, such as your current employment (employer, job title and job description);
Financial data, such as billing amounts, VAT numbers and bank details for HoST clients and suppliers;
Photographs and videos.

In addition to this data, HoST may occasionally collect information relating to companies and/or business projects. Although not all information requested constitutes personal data, all such information is treated with the utmost confidentiality.

In all circumstances, HoST ensures that only data that is adequate, relevant and necessary for the stated purposes is collected, processed and retained.

Purposes and legal bases for processing

HoST collects and processes your Data for the following purposes:

Promoting HoST’s activities and news, as well as news from the startup ecosystem, through various channels (newsletter, social media, articles, podcasts and internal communication channels within the building). Newsletter subscribers who wish to unsubscribe may follow the instructions provided at the end of each newsletter;
Communicating with website visitors and providing them with the information requested;
Inviting and registering individuals for events, organising and managing such events and conducting post-event follow-up activities (satisfaction surveys, sending presentation materials, etc.);
Managing accounting, contracts, room bookings, parking space rentals, reception and mail;
Processing requests for access, rectification and objection, as well as other rights relating to personal data;
Managing complaints and disputes;
Improving the user experience on the website.

We have described the purposes for which we use your personal data. Please note that not all of these purposes may apply to you. Furthermore, in certain cases, providing your personal data may be required by law or under a contract. If you do not provide your personal data in such cases, we may not be able to fulfil our obligations or provide our services.

Depending on the nature of the processing, the applicable legal bases are:

Legitimate interests;
Legal obligation;
Consent.

Recipients of processed personal data and transfers of such data

Your Data is processed internally by duly authorised persons, within the limits of their respective responsibilities.

In order to achieve the purposes mentioned above, we share your personal data with external recipients who provide services on our behalf, in particular for:

Managing your access to our services, online security and fraud prevention, and carrying out maintenance operations;
Providing IT services (system administrators, hosting providers, etc.);
Managing newsletters, events, customer relationships, social media, podcasts, rooms, etc.;
Collaborating with partners (for example, event partners) solely for the purposes described above.

Certain recipients may be located outside the European Economic Area. If we transfer your personal data to countries outside the European Economic Area that are not considered by the European Commission to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data, and where the transfer is not otherwise subject to appropriate safeguards, we use Standard Contractual Clauses to ensure that your Data is adequately protected. These clauses have been issued by the European Commission. For further information and to obtain a copy of the transfer safeguards in place, please contact us (see below).

Cookies

The website www.host.lu uses cookies. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer and/or mobile device by the websites you visit. They are generally used to make websites operate more efficiently and to provide information to the website owner.

Cookies are generally stored on your computer’s hard drive. The information collected through cookies enables HoST to determine which parts of its website are most frequently visited and identify any difficulties users may experience when accessing it. Using this information, HoST can improve the quality of your experience on its website, provide additional features and information, and resolve access difficulties.

If you wish to avoid the use of cookies, you can disable cookies in your browser or device settings. Your use of the HoST website with a browser configured to accept cookies constitutes acceptance of HoST’s cookies and third-party cookies.

More generally, the cookies used by the website allow us to improve your browsing experience and, ultimately, the content of our website, in order to provide you with better access to information and more relevant information.

We do not use advertising or social media cookies.

Part 3: Security – How do we protect your Data?

Retention period

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in Part 2. However, we may need to retain your Data for a longer period in order to comply with the law, perform a task carried out in the public interest or exercise official authority vested in us.

In certain cases, we may also retain your Data for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes, or statistical purposes. In addition, we may retain your Data in order to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Security of your Data

We implement technical and organisational measures in accordance with industry standards to ensure the security of your personal data. However, security is a shared responsibility. We therefore encourage you to take your own security measures. This may include using strong passwords and keeping your usernames and passwords confidential.

Part 4: Your Rights

In accordance with the GDPR, data subjects have certain rights regarding their personal data. We wish to assist you in exercising these rights, within the limits of applicable law. Subject to any restrictions imposed by applicable legislation and where applicable, these rights include:

Right of access:
You have the right to know what personal data we hold about you and to access it.

Right to rectification:
You have the right to ask us to rectify your personal data if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to erasure:
You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data.

Right to restriction of processing:
You have the right to request that we temporarily or permanently restrict the processing of some or all of your personal data.

Right to object:
You may object at any time to our processing of your personal data:

For reasons relating to your particular situation;
Without providing any justification where the data is used for direct marketing purposes.

Right to data portability:
You have the right to obtain a copy of your Data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. You also have the right to transfer your Data to another party where technically feasible.

Right to object to automated decision-making:
You have the right to object to decisions made entirely by automated means, including profiling, where such decisions have legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you.

Right to withdraw consent:
Where we have asked for your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without providing a reason. The withdrawal of your consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out on the basis of your consent prior to its withdrawal.

These rights may be restricted, for example, where complying with your request would disclose personal data relating to another person, or where you ask us to delete information that we are required to retain by law or on the basis of compelling legitimate interests.

For further information on how to exercise your rights, please contact us (see Part 5 below).

Finally, as a data subject, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (in particular in the European Union Member State of your habitual residence, your place of work, or the place where the alleged infringement occurred) if you consider that the processing of your personal data infringes applicable personal data protection legislation. Please refer to the contact details in Part 5 below.

Part 5: Contact Us

For any questions concerning this Privacy Statement or how to exercise your rights, please contact the data protection representative at your point of contact:

House of Startups
9, rue du Laboratoire
L-1911 Luxembourg
Luxembourg
host(at)host.lu

In the event of a complaint

As a data subject, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (in particular in the European Union Member State of your habitual residence, your place of work, or the place where the alleged infringement occurred) if you consider that the processing of your personal data infringes applicable personal data protection legislation.

For your information, the contact details of the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (Commission nationale pour la protection des données – CNPD) are provided below.

Part 6: Effective Date and Amendments