Privacy Policy

Profspect ("Profspect", "In-Genuity", "we", "us" or "our") provides the In-Genuity platform, which helps founders validate product ideas, research prior art, assess patentability and prepare draft patent filings. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. It applies to in-genuity.app and the In-Genuity web application.

This policy is provided for transparency about our current practices. It is not a substitute for legal advice — if you need a compliance review (e.g. for POPIA, GDPR or another jurisdiction), please consult a qualified attorney.

1. Information we collect

Account information. When you register, we collect your full name, email address, password (stored as a salted hash, never in plain text) and optionally your country.

Idea submissions. When you submit an idea for analysis, we collect the idea's title, description, sector, target countries and "Type of IP being Patented" classification.

KYC (Know Your Customer) information. If you start the patent filing flow, we collect your legal full name, ID/passport type and number, date of birth, country, and copies of your ID document and proof of address. Sensitive KYC fields are stored encrypted.

Contact form submissions. If you contact us, we collect your name, email address, subject and message.

Usage information. Like most web applications, our server logs basic technical information (IP address, browser type, pages requested) for security and troubleshooting.

2. How we use your information

• To create and secure your account, and authenticate you when you log in.
• To run AI-powered analysis of your submitted idea — including prior-art research, patentability assessment, market/demand analysis, product diagrams and a draft specification — using Anthropic's Claude API (see "Third-party services" below).
• To verify your identity (KYC) where required before generating a draft patent filing package for a selected jurisdiction.
• To generate draft patent filing documents and shortlist investors, accelerators and combinators relevant to your idea.
• To respond to enquiries submitted via our contact form.
• To maintain the security, integrity and performance of the platform.

3. Third-party services

To provide the analysis features described above, the text of your idea (title, description, sector and target countries) is sent to Anthropic (the provider of the Claude AI models) for processing. We do not send your KYC documents or account password to Anthropic or any other third party.

The "World Map" feature loads map tiles from OpenStreetMap and CARTO. Static assets (fonts, icons, JavaScript libraries) are loaded from content delivery networks such as jsDelivr, unpkg and Google Fonts. Loading these resources may expose your IP address to those providers, subject to their own privacy policies.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use third-party advertising or analytics trackers.

4. Data storage and security

Your information is stored in our application database. Passwords are hashed, and sensitive KYC fields (legal name and ID/passport number) are encrypted at rest. We apply industry-standard measures — including HTTPS in production, a content-security policy, rate limiting and CSRF protection — to help protect your data, but no system can be guaranteed 100% secure.

5. Data retention

We retain your account, idea and KYC information for as long as your account is active, or as needed to provide the service, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. You can request deletion of your account and associated data at any time (see "Your rights" below).

6. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example, under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) or the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)), you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, or to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below.

7. Children's privacy

In-Genuity is intended for founders, inventors and businesses, and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of In-Genuity after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, contact us at our contact page or by email at kennedy.mbono@profspect.co.za. See also our Cookie Policy.