Version 13/1/2021

The Birdhouse CVBA, with company number 0645.972.488 and Birdhouse Services BV, with company number 0727.842.369, both with registered office at Ottergemsesteenweg-Zuid 808 b300, 9000 Ghent (“Birdhouse”, “we”, “us”) as “data controllers” within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“AVG”) attach importance to your privacy and to the protection of your personal data. Therefore, we strive to process your data in a transparent and legal manner.

Through this privacy and cookies policy, we want to inform you about the processing of your personal data (Part 1) and about the use of cookies on this website (Part 2).

The distinct roles of The Birdhouse CVBA and Birdhouse Services BV will be further explained throughout this document. Where this distinction is not made, the relevant information applies to the respective activities of both entities.

From time to time, it may be necessary to modify this privacy and cookies policy. We therefore recommend that you consult this privacy and cookies policy regularly. Important changes will always be announced.

PART 1: Processing of your personal data

1.1 What data do we collect and why?

(a) Accelerator program

  1. The data controller for the accelerator program is The Birdhouse CVBA.
  2. When you register for the accelerator program and or Birdhouse services, we collect the following information:
  • Start-up name
  • Company data
  • Adress
  • VAT/Company number
  • First name and name
  • Mobile number
  • E-mail address
  • Data and information about your file
  1. The data you share during the application to our accelerator program are used to evaluate your candidacy and follow up on your file (e.g. to invite you to pitches, speed dates, defense, etc.). They are also used to contact you to provide feedback and/or communicate your possible acceptance or rejection for our program.
  2. When your application is accepted, your personal data mentioned above, as well as any other personal data you would communicate to us during the course of the program, will be processed in order to follow up on your file and manage your participation in the accelerator program.
  3. Our legal basis for this is the necessity of processing this data for the preparation and execution of the contract that will be established between us and you in this context.
  4. If you also subscribe to our electronic newsletter, we collect the following data for this purpose:
  • First name and name
  • E-mail address
  1. Incidentally, upon your acceptance as a participant in our accelerator program, unless you object, you will be automatically signed up for our newsletter (informing you of Birdhouse’s activities and services). More information about our newsletter can be found at title (c) below.
  2. If you also register for one of our events, we will collect the following data for this purpose:
  • First name and name
  • E-mail address
  • Company (if applicable)
  • Name of the event
  • Registration for the accelerator program

More information on our processing of personal data when participating in events can be found under title (d) below.

(b) Birdhouse Services

  1. The data controller for Birdhouse Services is Birdhouse Services BV.
  2. The data shared when registering for Birdhouse Services follows the same procedure as mentioned above for the accelerator program. Additionally, if you do not have a VAT or company number, you will be asked to share your national registration number. Only on this basis will you be able to benefit from the VLAIO tariff. The data shared during the project will only be used for the proper execution of the assignment and to obtain sponsorship through VLAIO.

(c) Newsletters

  1. The data controller for newsletters is The Birdhouse CVBA, for the accelerator program and Birdhouse Services BV for the Birdhouse Services.
  2. If you have subscribed to our newsletters, either directly or upon joining the accelerator program (see title (a) above), we will use your email address to inform you about, among other things, interesting blog posts, upcoming events and job opportunities via an electronic newsletter. Our legal basis for this is your unambiguous consent to this processing, which you give when you subscribe to the newsletter, or our legitimate interest in keeping participants in our accelerator program informed about our activities and services via email.
  3. You can unsubscribe (and thus revoke your consent) at no cost at any time via the newsletter (entry at the bottom) or by sending an email to hello@gobirdhouse.com.

(d) Registration for our events

  1. The data controller for the events we organize is The Birdhouse CVBA.
  2. When registering for our events (via Eventbrite), we ask you to share with us your first name, surname, e-mail address and, if applicable, the name of your company. This information will only be used to provide you with tickets to participate in the event and will only be shared with our partners with whom we co-organize the event for the purpose of proper organization and follow-up of event participants, excluding direct marketing purposes.
  3. Our legal basis for this is the necessity of processing these data for the performance of our contract with you (in particular, the participation in the event) and our legitimate interests (as well as those of our partners) to properly organize our events (and for which we e.g. maintain participant lists).
  4. The data will not be stored in our customer database after the event, but will be maintained by Eventbrite, Inc. (a Delaware corporation headquartered at 155 5th Street, Floor 7, San Francisco, CA 94103, US Reg. No.4742147) as our service provider. Eventbrite’s privacy policy can be found here (Eventbrite Privacy Policy | Eventbrite Help Center). It explains how Eventbrite will process your personal data both for its own purposes (as data controller) and for purposes determined by event organizers (as processor). It also explains how Eventbrite may, in certain cases, transfer personal data to a party within its group or to a third party with whom they do business that is located outside the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, in jurisdictions that do not have data protection laws or where such laws are less stringent than in Europe. In this case, Eventbrite will take legally required steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect personal data.

(e) When enrolling in our online learning platform / online courses

  1. The data controller for the online learning platform is Birdhouse Services BV.
  2. Through this digital learning platform, digital products such as online course videos are offered to registered users. For this purpose, you will have to create a customer account on our website. For this purpose, we collect the following data:
  • First name and name
  • E-mail address
  • Selected password
  1. Alternatively, you may choose to register with your existing LinkedIn, Google or Facebook account on our website. In this regard, we refer to the privacy and cookies policy that you will receive upon registering with LinkedIn (see Privacy Policy | LinkedIn), Google (see Privacy Policy Google) of Facebook (see Facebook) has accepted. We will only have access to the basic data required to register you on our website, being your first and last name, e-mail address and (if applicable) your profile picture. You can stop this synchronization at any time:
  1. Once you create an account, we may also collect the following information from you when you order online courses or otherwise use your user account:
  • Information about the online courses you purchase and view
  • Adress
  • Mobile number
  • Company name
  • Your payment method
  • Any discount codes you use
  • VAT number or national register number
  • Whether or not you use the VLAIO rate
  1. Your personal data is processed by Thinkific Labs Inc (with address at – 369 Terminal Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6A 4C4, Canada) as our service provider. Thinkific’s privacy policy can be found here (https://www.thinkific.com/privacy-policy/) found here. It explains how Thinkific will process your personal data both for its own purposes (as data controller) and for purposes determined by online course providers (as processor). It also explains how, in certain cases, Thinkific may transfer personal data to a party within its group or to a third party with whom they are working that is located outside the EEA, in jurisdictions where there are no data protection laws or where such laws are less stringent than in Europe.

(f) When visiting our website and social media channels

  1. The website www.gobirdhouse.com is operated by The Birdhouse CVBA as the data controller.
  2. The website https://www.birdhousemasterclass.eu/ is operated by Birdhouse Services BV as the data controller.
  3. To optimize your experience on our website and for marketing purposes, we have installed a Facebook Pixel. In addition, we work with Google Analytics to optimize our web analytics and adapt our marketing to the needs of our users. This way we can also customize our website to make it as user-friendly as possible.
  4. Our websites also contain various social media plug-ins (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter). By clicking on these, you as a user of one or more of these social media platforms can visit our social media pages via a direct link through your own social media account. In this regard, we refer to the privacy and cookie policy that you accepted when registering with Twitter (see Privacy Policy (twitter.com)), LinkedIn (see Privacy Policy | LinkedIn), Instagram (see Data Policy | Instagram Help Center) or Facebook Ireland (see Facebook). In these documents, the social media platforms also explain (i) in which cases they act as (joint) controllers or processors, (ii) the legal basis they rely on and the ways to exercise your AVG rights, and (iii) how they process your personal data as a non-user, if applicable, when visiting our public social media pages.
  5. In the context of our website, we collect in particular your IP address and certain data about how you visit and use our website, in particular through cookies and similar technologies. You can read more about this in Section 2 of this Privacy and Cookies Policy.
  6. Also, if you were to “like” or “follow” us on social media, we may additionally collect certain information from you such as your name, email address, and posted comments or content relevant to us. We may also collect your information when you provide us with certain information or send us a direct message through one of our social media pages. We base this on the legal basis of legitimate interest in profiling ourselves online and managing our social media pages.

1.2 Transfer of personal data to third parties

  1. In connection with our activities as listed above, we sometimes share your personal data with third parties, in particular service providers, who act as “processors” for us, including for example IT or PR/marketing service providers or other service providers working on our behalf (e.g. Typeform, Eventbrite, Survey Anyplace and ActiveCampaign).
  2. If necessary to achieve our purposes, as set out above, your personal data will also be shared with our partners (Belfius and EY) and with the Birdhouse Mentors, as well as with third parties with whom we co-organize training or events. Moreover, Birdhouse Mentors will only have access to your personal data to the extent necessary to guide you during the accelerator program. These third parties will take the necessary technical and organizational measures to protect personal data.
  3. Finally, we may transfer your personal data to our accounting firm and/or our legal advisors when this is necessary for our administration, accounting obligations or to defend our interests in court. If required by law, we may also share your personal data with public authorities, police forces or courts.

1.3 Retention Period

  1. Accelerator Program: If you are accepted into our accelerator program, your data will be kept for as long as you participate in the program and for ten 10 years after the program ends. If you are not accepted into our accelerator program after application, your data will be kept for a maximum of 1 year to still be able to answer any questions you may have.
  2. Birdhouse Services: If you take the Birdhouse Masterclass online course, your information will be kept for as long as you continue to receive it and for ten 10 years after it ends.
  3. Newsletter: The personal data after signing up for our newsletters will be kept until when you unsubscribe from our newsletter, which is possible at any time free of charge.
  4. Events: The data after registration for our events are not kept by us after the end of the event you registered for. However, they may still be retained by Eventbrite (see Privacybeleid van Eventbrite | Eventbrite Helpcentrum).
  5. Online learning platform: your customer account data and additional data when you order online courses will be retained until when you delete your customer account. However, after deletion of your customer account, your data may still be retained by Thinkific Labs (see Privacy Policy Thinkific).
  6. Visit to our website: The retention period of personal data collected through cookies or similar technologies is set out in Section 2 below. This varies by cookie or similar technology.

In each case, your personal data will not be stored longer than necessary for the purposes for which they were collected and processed (as described above). Afterwards, they may still be retrievable in our backups or archives, but they will no longer be actively processed in a file.

As an exception to the above, if we are required to do so by law, or if it is necessary to defend our interests in court (for example, in the event of an impending or ongoing dispute), we may retain your personal data for a longer period.

1.4 Your rights with regard to the retention period

  1. We take the necessary administrative, technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the specific risks we have identified. We thus protect your personal data as best as possible against destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure of or access to personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed.
  2. Furthermore, we always try to ensure that we keep your personal data accurate and up-to-date. We therefore kindly request that you notify us immediately of any changes to your personal data (such as a change in your contact details).
  3. Your rights in relation to your personal data
  1. You have the right to inspect your personal data free of charge at any time and can have them corrected if they are incorrect or incomplete.
  2. In accordance with the conditions and restrictions set out in the AVG, you may also have your personal data deleted, or the processing restricted.
  3. You may further object to our processing of your personal data (i) for direct marketing purposes (such as our newsletter), or (ii) if you have legitimate reasons to do so, when it is processed based on our legitimate interests.
  4. In addition, in certain cases, you have the right to obtain a copy (in a structured, common and machine-readable form) of your personal data and to have the personal data transferred to another service provider.
  5. Finally, you have the right to file a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (https://www.gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit.be/). For more information about your rights, and the circumstances under which you may exercise those rights, you may also consult the Data Protection Authority’s website.
  6. You may exercise your rights by sending a written, dated and signed request to Birdhouse, Ottergemsesteenweg-Zuid 808 b300, 9000 Ghent or by e-mail to hello@gobirdhouse.com. To prevent someone else from exercising your rights, in case of doubt about your identity we may ask you to provide proof of identity as well. We will answer your request as soon as possible, within the period of one month set forth in the AVG. For complex requests, this month may be extended by two additional months.
  7. In principle, you can exercise these rights free of charge. Only in the case of unreasonable or repeated requests may we charge a reasonable administrative fee.

PART 2: Use of cookies on this website

1.1 General information about cookies

  1. Cookies are small information files that are stored on the hard drive of your computer or mobile device via your browser. Some of the cookies we use on our website are essential for the website to function properly technically, other cookies serve to provide you with a better, faster and safer user experience.
  2. Cookies are often classified into the following categories:
  • Session cookies: cookies that are automatically deleted when the user closes the browser,
  • Persistent cookies: cookies that remain stored on the user’s terminal equipment for a well-defined retention period (cookies may expire after, for example, a few minutes, days or even years),
  • Proprietary cookies: cookies developed and placed by the operator of the website itself, and
  • Third party cookies: cookies placed by a website belonging to a different domain than the one displayed in the address bar of the website in question.

1.2 Specific information about this website

Below you can find a list of the cookies we use on our website.

Type cookies Purpose of cookies Name of cookies Own cookie or third party cookie Retention period
Necessary / technical cookies These cookies are essential for the operation of our website and allow you to use certain parts of it. For example, they allow you to navigate between different parts of the website to fill in data, etc. If you delete these cookies, certain parts of the website will not work, or will not work optimally. [●] [●] [● ] [●] [● ] [●]
Analytical cookies These cookies allow us to recognize visitors to our website, count the number of visitors and determine how they navigate. This helps us to improve visitor navigation and ensure that visitors find what they need more quickly and easily.
We make use of Google Analytics, for example. In this context, your data may be stored on servers outside Europe (see: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en). The information generated about your use of the website (including your IP address) is used in particular to track how you use the website, to compile reports on website activity for website operators and to offer other services related to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.		 _gid
_ga
_gat		 Third Party
Third Party
Third Party		 1 day
2 years
1 minute
Performance cookies We use performance cookies to collect information about how visitors use our website. These cookies help us understand how users interact with our website, why certain error messages occur, and they allow us to test new features. We use this information to enhance the ease of use of our website. [●] [●] [●] [●] [●] [●]
Functional Cookies Functional cookies are those cookies that make the functioning of our website easier and more pleasant for the visitor and ensure that you have a more personalized user experience. These are, for example, the cookies that remember your language preference, or that remember whether or not you are visiting our website for the first time, whether or not you have accepted our cookie banner, etc. _thinkific_session
__thinkific_store_subdomain__
__ thinkific_store_email__
Visitor_id		 Third Party
Third Party

Third Party

 Session end
Until manual deletion
Until manual deletion
End of session
Tracking or advertising cookies Our [website / marketing emails] use tracking cookies to track user statistics and send you personalized messages, ads and promotions. [●] [●] [●] [●] [●] [●]

1.3 Refusal / deletion of cookies

  1. You can set your Internet browser so that cookies are not accepted, that you receive a warning when a cookie is installed or that cookies are subsequently removed from your hard disk. However, please note that in this case certain graphics may not appear correctly or you may not be able to use certain applications.
  2. All major Internet browsers also allow you to control cookies stored on your computer or mobile device:
  1. In particular, if you want to log out of Google Analytics for all websites, you can do so via http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

1.4 Additional information about social media plug-ins

As already mentioned, in addition to cookies, we also use similar technologies such as social media plug-ins. Social media plug-ins make it possible to recognize you on the basis of your social media profile and to import certain data (such as your identification and contact details and your profile picture). They also make it possible to use social media (Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn) ‘share’ buttons. In this way, the provider of the social media platform you use will also receive certain information about your browser and activity and possibly link it to your account. More information on this can be found in the privacy and cookies policy of your social media platform, as mentioned above in Part 1. If you do not wish to connect to your social media profile, you may opt out of this before clicking on the plug-ins on our website.