Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Starthop is operated by Hoptec GmbH ( hoptec.ch ) ("we"). For questions about data protection, write to info@starthop.app.

This policy applies under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where it applies, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

2. Two roles: controller and processor

We are the controller only for the data we need to run our own business: the accounts of the people who sign in, billing, support requests, security logs and the use of our public website.

For everything a customer organisation enters in Starthop - for example clients, contacts, leads, employees and their CVs, hours, invoices, receipts, bank statements, contracts and correspondence - the customer organisation is the controller and we act solely as its processor. The customer alone decides which data it enters, is responsible for having a lawful basis for it, for informing the people concerned (such as its employees, contacts and applicants) and for answering their requests.

3. Data we process as controller

Account data: name, email address and sign-in identifiers. Sign-in is handled by our identity service at auth.starthop.app.

Billing data: for paid plans, payments are processed by Paddle, our reseller and merchant of record, under its own responsibility. We never see or store card numbers.

Technical data: log data such as IP address, browser, time and pages requested, used to run and secure the service.

Website analytics: only with your consent - see section 4.

4. Cookies and local storage

Essential storage keeps you signed in, keeps the service secure and remembers your settings (language, theme and your cookie choice). It is strictly necessary for the service you request and needs no consent.

Analytics (only with your consent): we use Google Analytics 4, provided by Google Ireland Ltd. together with Google LLC (USA), to count visits and see how pages are used. Google sets the cookies _ga and _ga_* with a random identifier, kept for up to 13 months, and receives the pages visited, device and browser type and an approximate location derived from your IP address. Google Analytics 4 does not store IP addresses. Advertising features and Google signals are switched off, and the data is kept in Google Analytics for at most 14 months. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; under the FADP, your consent). Google LLC is certified under the EU-US and Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework, and standard contractual clauses also apply.

Nothing optional runs before you choose. Refusing has no effect on your use of Starthop. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time under "Cookie settings" in the website footer or in the user menu of the application; withdrawing deletes the analytics cookies. We ask again after 12 months or when the purposes change.

5. AI features

When a user of a customer organisation starts an AI feature, the document or text needed for that task is sent to our AI processing provider for that task only. The customer decides whether its users use AI features and with which data.

6. Service providers and hosting

The application and its data are hosted by our infrastructure providers. We use providers for sign-in, email delivery, file storage, payments (Paddle), AI processing and, with consent, analytics (Google). Where data is processed outside Switzerland or the EU/EEA, we rely on recognised safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

7. Backups are not an archive

We make technical backups to operate the service. They are not an archive for customers and do not replace the customer's own copies. Each customer must export and keep its data outside Starthop as required by law and by its own needs.

8. Retention and deletion

Customer data is kept while the customer's organisation exists in Starthop. When the organisation is deleted or the contract ends, its data may be deleted without further notice; the customer must export it beforehand. Our own records are kept as long as the law requires.

9. Your rights

For data we process as controller, you may request access, correction or deletion, object to processing or withdraw consent by writing to info@starthop.app. For data entered by a customer organisation, please contact that organisation; we will support it as its processor.

You may lodge a complaint with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) or, in the EU, with your data protection authority.

10. Changes

We may update this policy at any time. The date at the top of the page shows the version in force.