Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 25, 2022

This Privacy Policy describes how Elevate Toronto (“Elevate”, “we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise manages your personal information in connection with the use of and access to our Services (as defined in our Terms of Use). This Privacy Policy applies only to personal information collected and created in connection with the Services, how and why we use such information, who we share it with and your legal rights through our Services.  

This Privacy Policy should be reviewed with our Terms of Use at https://elevatefestival.ca/terms-of-use/. Any capitalized terms in this Privacy Policy shall have the same meaning in the Terms of Use. 

By using the Services , you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. If you do not consent to our collecting, using, and disclosing your personal information please discontinue your use of our Services.

A. Personal Information

Personal information is information that can identify an individual or is about an identifiable individual on its own or when combined with other information. Personal information includes your name, contact information and gender, among other things. 

B. Collection of Personal Information and Purpose of Collection

We only collect your personal information with your consent, or as may be permitted or required by law. 

Types of Information

The type of personal information we may collect include, but are not limited to: 

  • Contact Data (e.g. mailing address and email address) 
  • Profile Data (e.g. first name, last name, age cohort, and whether you identify as a woman in technology to receive exclusive benefits to attend the Festival)
  • Festival Data (e.g. reasons for attending, your experiences about the Festival, online surveys)
  • Student Details (e.g. school, field of study)
  • Employment Details (e.g. job title, company name, department, company and team size, industry, the category or type of organization you work for, or if you are looking for employment)
  • Preferences (e.g. personal or professional interests); 
  • Communications Data (e.g. information you may submit to us on our Sites, mobile applications notes or discussions, social media accounts or in your correspondence with us)
  • Financial and Transactional Data (e.g. credit card, debit card or bank information to process ticket sales, what you purchased, date and time of purchase, whether you used a promotion code); 
  • Survey Data (e.g. user surveys or research initiative about your use of our Services and how we can improve our programs, events, or Services); 
  • Usage/Technical Data (e.g. browsing patterns, browser type, information about visits and use of the webpages you visit). 

The Festival has different ticket categories: General Admission Pass, Youth Pass, Startup Pass, Investor Pass and Trailblazer Pass. Depending on the ticket category you purchase, Elevate may collect different information to process your registration to provide you with exclusive information, benefits, promotions, or services tailored to the ticket holder category. For example, if you are an “Investor Pass” ticket holder, in addition to the above information, we may collect additional information such as areas of investments, and amounts raised. 

Depending on the ticket category, you may be requested to provide additional personal information by completing an application form, which includes but is not limited to company funding raised to date, industry, competitive landscape, investment thesis, etc. 

Method of Collection of Personal Information 

We do not collect personal information except when you provide such specific information on a voluntary basis or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. We collect your personal information from you when you directly enter your information on our Site (e.g. ticket registration) or send it to us electronically, for example, by submitting an online inquiry form or online survey or by sending us an email. 

We also collect personal information from third parties about you. For example, business partners such as third party-payment providers, Google Analytics, social media services, the App or other apps and websites that we use or have integrated with or marketing service providers.  

We may collect personal information that is publicly from your social media accounts, such as social media handle and the number of followers you have on your Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or other social media platforms or providers. 

Aggregated and De-identified Information

Personal information does not include information that is aggregated or de-identified in such a manner that it cannot be connected to any individual or used to identify you. We may de-identify or aggregate the personal information we process in such a way as to ensure that individuals cannot be identified from it. We may use this de-identified and aggregated information for our own purposes including for testing our systems, research, data analysis, developing new services and improving our websites, programs, events, and Services. We may share this de-identified and aggregated information with third parties such as companies we do business with, advertisers, partners, or sponsors.

Purposes (How we use your Personal Information)

We collect your personal information for the following purposes: 

  • Registering you for the Festival and enabling your participation in all Festival activities and forums that you choose to participate in. 
  • Performing all the necessary actions to give effect to your requests or instructions;
  • Communicating with you (e.g. responding to online inquiries about ticket sales and registration);
  • Promoting and organizing the Festival and events, which includes but is not limited to:
    • registration and ticket sales; 
    • provide you with exclusive benefits, promotions, and information; and 
    • compiling attendee lists 
  • Providing you with our Services; 
  • Quality purposes, which include but are not limited to evaluating, measuring, and analyzing whether our Services and organization is meeting its standards (e.g. online surveys or research initiatives for the Festival); 
  • Risk management, error management or for the purpose of activities to improve or maintain the quality of our programs, events, or Services; 
  • Marketing and advertising purposes by Elevate and/or its sponsors and partners if you have given your consent (e.g. signing up for Elevate Insider, a monthly newsletter; and to analyze and use data for the purpose of targeted advertising and marketing communication to you about relevant topics, promotions, events, and products in connection to Elevate and its partners and sponsors); 
  • Research purposes (e.g. online surveys); and
  • Administrative purposes related to any of the above purpose, including all the functions reasonably necessary for carrying out the purposes described above. 

Analytic Purposes 

We collect, use, and disclose your information for analyzing your use of our Services, using third-party tools such as Google Analytics, a web analytics services offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic, to better understand how we can improve our Services.

C. Limiting Collection of Personal information 

The amount and type of personal information that we collect directly from you is limited to that which is necessary to fulfill the purposes identified. Information is collected directly from you unless applicable laws permits or requires collection from third parties. 

D. Disclosure to Third Parties

We do not disclose your personal information to third parties to enable them to market or advertise their products or services without your consent or permission. 

Under certain circumstances, we may disclose your personal information. Some examples are: 

  • When you have consented to the disclosure;
  • When we are required or authorized by law to do so (e.g. if a court issues a warrant or subpoena; and
  • Where we engage third parties to provide services to us to carry out the purposes for which the information was supplied or collected such as: customer support, data storage and integration, website hosting, ticketing and payment processing, the App for the Festival (e.g. Event Base), mobile applications, and email and direct mail services subject to the third party agreeing to protect the confidentiality of such information. 

E. International Data Transfer

To deliver Services to you, your personal information may be transferred outside the jurisdiction in which you are situated and may become subject to the laws of the receiving jurisdiction, which may differ from the laws of your jurisdiction. By using our Services, you consent to the transfer of your personal information outside of your jurisdiction for the purpose of storing your personal information or processing it. 

Where your personal information is transferred outside your jurisdiction, we take reasonably necessary steps to ensure that your personal information is subject to appropriate safeguards in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

F. Withdraw Consent

If we have specifically asked for your consent to use your information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at:

Email: [email protected] 

Telephone: 416-892-3324

Address: 234 Bay Street, Toronto ON, M5K 1B2

Please note that you may continue to receive communications for a short period after changing your preferences while our systems are fully updated.

Direct Marketing and Advertising

There are several ways you can stop direct marketing and advertising communications from us:

  • Click the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any email communication or electronic communication that we send you. We will then stop any further electronic communication.
  • In the App for the Festival, you can manage your preferences and opt out from one or all of the different push notifications by selecting or deselecting the relevant options in your phones ‘Notification Settings’ section 
  • Email us at the contact details under the “Withdraw Consent” in the above section.

Even if you opt-out of receiving direct marketing or advertising, we may still send you non-promotional messages to administer your account and/or for purposes of facilitating, completing, or confirming a commercial transaction that you have previously agreed to enter into with us. For example, we may send you an email if we have made material updates to this Privacy Policy or Terms of Services.

G. Safeguards

The security of your personal information is important to us. We take precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure. 

However, no method of transmission over the internet, email, physical or electronic security system or storage is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our servers, systems, platforms, or databases, but will use commercially reasonable means to protect your personal information.  

You should be aware that e-mail, the App, online or application forums, social media, and online forms on our Sites are not an entirely secure mediums, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information. Information you supply to us may be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the internet. Any transmission of information by you to us is at your own risk. Elevate cannot guarantee absolute security and is not liable for any losses or damages where the security of personal information is compromised. 

H. Retention of Personal Information

Your personal information is retained as required by law and to fulfill the purposes for which the information is collected, as described in this Privacy Policy.  Information that is no longer required to fulfill the identified purposes is securely destroyed, erased, or made anonymous. We may also need to retain some of your information for a longer period to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce our Terms of Use.

I. Access to, Correction or Deletion of your Personal Information

Access Requests

You have the right to ask us what personal information about you that we have in our records and to correct or update that information where applicable. We will respond to your request for access within reasonable timelines and costs to you, as governed by law.   

Detailed requests that require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees. Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. There are a number of situations where we may deny access. If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct personal information, we will provide a reason or reasons for doing so.

Correction or Deletion Requests

You may request that your information be corrected or deleted if it is inaccurate or incomplete. Such requests must be made in writing and must explain what information is to be corrected and why. 

Please direct any access or correction requests to our privacy officer. 

J. Use of Cookies

You should be aware that certain information may be automatically collected by the Site through the operation of what are called “cookies”. “Cookies” are small text files that identify an individual computer’s browser entering a web site.  They allow the Site to track that browser’s movement through the Site over several sessions. Through cookies, a website can recognize repeat users, facilitate the user’s access to and use of the Site and allow a Site to track usage behaviour. We use cookies to: 

  • recognize whenever you visit the Site,
  • obtain information about your preferences and use of the Site;
  • carry out research and statistical analysis to help improve our content and services and to help us better understand our users’ requirements;
  • target our marketing and advertising campaigns more effectively by providing interest-based  advertisements that are personalized to your interests; and
  • make your online experience more efficient and enjoyable. 

We use cookies only for the above-mentioned purposes and will not use them to identify users or to track usage of the internet other than on the Site. If you do not want a cookie placed on your computer by the Site, you may disable cookies altogether by modifying the Preferences section of your browser.  Note that it is possible that some aspects of the Site and Services may be unavailable to you if you choose this option.

K. Privacy Officer Contact 

For additional information about this Privacy Policy, please contact our privacy officer at [email protected]. The privacy officer is responsible for ensuring compliance with this Privacy Policy and to address your comments and concerns.

L. Challenging Compliance with the Privacy Policy and Practices 

Any person may ask questions or challenge our compliance with this Privacy Policy or with applicable privacy legislation by contacting our privacy officer.  If we are not able to address your privacy concerns to your satisfaction, you may contact the Privacy Commissioner of Canada:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

30, Victoria Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3
Canada

Toll-free: 1-800-282-1376
Phone: (819) 994-5444

TTY: (819) 994-6591

M. Changes to our Privacy Policy

We may change and update this Privacy Policy from time to time without notice to you. If we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to notify you. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.