Terms of Use

This website, theventurecapitalinstitute.com (the "Site"), is operated by The Venture Capital Institute, which is owned by Arete & Associates, LLC ("Company," "we," "us" and "our"). We offer this Site, including all information, tools and services available from this Site, to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all terms, conditions, policies and notices stated here.

By visiting or engaging with our Site, you engage in our "Service" and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions ("Terms of Use," "Terms"), including those additional terms and conditions and policies referenced herein and/or available by hyperlink. These Terms apply to all users of the Site.

Please read these Terms carefully before accessing or using the Site. By accessing or using any part of the Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the Site or engage with our Service.

Any new features or tools which are added to the current Site shall also be subject to these Terms. You can review the most current version of the Terms at any time on this page. We reserve the right to update, change or replace any part of these Terms by posting updates and/or changes to the Site. It is your responsibility to check this page periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the Site following the posting of any changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.

By using the Site or Service, you represent that you are 18 or over. You may not access or use the Site or the Service if you are not at least 18 years old.

1. Accuracy, Completeness and Timeliness of Information

We are not responsible if information made available on this Site is not accurate, complete or current. The material on this Site, including firm and programme profiles, research summaries, and any finding rendered by the concierge, is provided for general information only and should not be relied upon or used as the sole basis for making decisions without consulting primary, more accurate, more complete or more timely sources of information, including the published materials of any venture firm or accelerator you consider approaching. Any reliance on the material on this Site is at your own risk.

This Site may contain certain historical information. Historical information, necessarily, is not current and is provided for your reference only. We reserve the right to modify the contents of this Site at any time, but we have no obligation to update any information on our Site. You agree that it is your responsibility to monitor changes to our Site.

Any content, guidance, resources, or recommendations included on the Site do not constitute, and are not a substitute for, professional, legal, financial, investment, or other expert advice. No fiduciary, advisory, or professional-client relationship is created by your use of the Site or Service.

We reserve the right to modify or discontinue the Site or the Service at any time, with or without notice to you. We shall not be liable to you or any third party should we exercise our right to modify or discontinue the Site or the Service. You acknowledge and accept that we do not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to the Site or Service, and operation of the Site or Service may be interfered with or adversely affected by numerous factors or circumstances outside of our control.

2. Third-Party Links

Third-party resources and/or links on this Site, including links to the websites of venture firms, accelerators, and published research, may direct you to third-party materials and websites that are not affiliated with us. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating the content or accuracy of any third-party materials or websites. We are not liable for any harm or damages that occur in connection with your use or reliance on any third-party materials or websites. Please review carefully the third party's policies and practices and make sure you understand them before you engage with any such website.

3. Firm Profiles, Findings, and No Referral Compensation

The Site and the concierge may present profiles of venture capital firms and accelerator programmes, findings of fundability, and other assessments or information. These are provided for general informational purposes only and do not constitute professional advice, an endorsement, a guarantee of suitability, quality, availability, eligibility, or outcome, or a representation that any firm, programme, or resource is appropriate for your circumstances, or that any firm or programme will consider, meet with, or fund any company. You are solely responsible for independently evaluating any firm, programme, finding, or resource before relying on it or entering into any transaction or relationship.

The Institute is not a broker-dealer, placement agent, or investment adviser. We do not sell introductions to investors, we have no referral, affiliate, or compensation-based relationships with the firms or programmes profiled on this Site, and we do not receive compensation contingent on any financing or transaction. Every fee the Institute charges is flat. Findings and profiles are the Institute's own editorial work, compiled from public sources, and no firm or programme has paid to appear or to be described favorably.

Any paid advisory engagement with the Institute is governed by its own separate written agreement between you and the Company; these Terms govern your use of the Site and Service.

4. Feedback

If you provide us with any feedback or suggestions regarding the Service ("Feedback"), you hereby assign to us all rights in such Feedback and agree that we shall have the right to use and fully exploit such Feedback and related information in any manner we deem appropriate. We will treat any Feedback you provide to us as non-confidential and non-proprietary. You agree that you will not submit to us any information or ideas that you consider to be confidential or proprietary.

5. Personal Information

Your submission of personal information through the Site is governed by our Privacy Policy.

6. Errors, Inaccuracies and Omissions

Occasionally there may be information on our Site or in the Service that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies or omissions that may relate to service descriptions, pricing, promotions, and offerings. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions, and to change or update information at any time without prior notice.

We undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify information in the Service or on any related website, including without limitation, pricing information, except as required by law. No specified update or refresh date applied in the Service or on any related website should be taken to indicate that all information in the Service or on any related website has been modified or updated.

7. Prohibited Uses

In addition to other prohibitions as set forth in these Terms, you agree not to: (a) license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, distribute, host, or otherwise commercially exploit the Service, whether in whole or in part, or any content displayed on the Service; (b) copy, modify, make derivative works of, disassemble, reverse compile or reverse engineer any part of the Service; (c) access the Service in order to build a similar or competitive website, product, or service; (d) use the Service in a manner that is prohibited by any law or regulation, or to facilitate the violation of any law or regulation; (e) upload, transmit, or distribute to or through the Service any computer viruses, worms, or any software intended to damage or alter a computer system or data; (f) send through the Service unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any other form of duplicative or unsolicited messages, whether commercial or otherwise; (g) use the Service to harvest, collect, gather or assemble information or data regarding other users, including e-mail addresses, without their consent; (h) interfere with, disrupt, or create an undue burden on servers or networks connected to the Service, or violate the regulations, policies or procedures of such networks; (i) attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service (or to other computer systems or networks connected to or used together with the Service), whether through password mining or any other means; (j) harass or interfere with any other user's use and enjoyment of the Service; or (k) use software or automated agents or scripts to generate automated searches, requests, or queries to (or to strip, scrape, or mine data from) the Service. We reserve the right to terminate your use of the Site, Service or any related website for violating any of the prohibited uses.

8. Use of the Concierge

The Site and Service include an artificial intelligence-powered conversational concierge, presented as "Shawna" (the "Concierge"), that collects information you provide and may generate responses, questions, findings, guidance, or information based on that information. By interacting with the Concierge, you acknowledge and agree to the following:

a) Informational Purposes Only; No Professional Advice. The Concierge is provided for general informational purposes only. Any output, finding, guidance, or information generated by the Concierge does not constitute, and is not a substitute for, professional, legal, financial, investment, tax, or other expert advice. No fiduciary, advisory, or professional-client relationship is created by your use of the Concierge. You should not rely on the Concierge as the sole basis for any decision and should consult a qualified professional before acting on any information it provides.

b) Accuracy and Limitations. The Concierge generates responses using automated methods and may produce information that is inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, or otherwise unreliable. We do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of any output produced by the Concierge, and any reliance on such output is at your own risk. The Concierge may not understand or correctly interpret your inputs, and its responses may not reflect your specific circumstances. Verify any firm's or programme's terms and criteria against its own published materials before you act.

c) No Guarantee of Outcomes. Any finding, guidance, or information provided by the Concierge is not a promise, guarantee, or assurance of any particular result, outcome, eligibility, funding, or availability of any product or service. A finding of "fundable" is an opinion rendered from information you self-report, not a commitment by any investor.

d) Information You Provide. Information you submit to the Concierge, including any personal information, is collected and processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy, and interview transcripts are received and reviewed by the Institute as stated beside the interview. You acknowledge and agree that we and our service providers may use inputs, outputs, interactions, and related data to operate, provide, maintain, evaluate, test, improve, and develop the Concierge, the Service, and related features, products, and services, subject to applicable law and our Privacy Policy. You are responsible for the information you provide and should not submit any confidential, sensitive, or proprietary information. We are not responsible for how you use, or the consequences of your reliance on, any output of the Concierge.

e) Human Review and Modification. We may, but are under no obligation to, review, monitor, or verify interactions with the Concierge. We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Concierge at any time without notice.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE CONCIERGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, AND THE DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SECTIONS OF THESE TERMS APPLY FULLY TO YOUR USE OF THE CONCIERGE. YOU ASSUME ALL RISK FOR ANY DECISIONS, ACTIONS, OR OMISSIONS BASED ON CONCIERGE OUTPUT.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SERVICE AND ALL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DELIVERED TO YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND 'AS AVAILABLE', WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, DURABILITY, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE OR THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SITE OR SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS IN THE SITE OR SERVICE WILL BE CORRECTED.

NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY US OR OUR REPRESENTATIVES OR ANY EMPLOYEE WILL CREATE A WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND THEREFORE IN SUCH INSTANCES, THE ABOVE-REFERENCED EXCLUSION IS INAPPLICABLE.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Arete & Associates, LLC, and its officers, directors, employees, and agents harmless, including costs and reasonable attorneys' fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party arising out of or related to (a) your use of the Site or the Service, (b) your violation of these Terms, (c) your violation of applicable laws or regulations, or (d) your infringement of any third-party rights. We reserve the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us, and you agree to cooperate with our defense of these claims. You agree not to settle any matter without our prior written consent. We will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action, or proceeding upon becoming aware of it.

11. Limitation of Liability

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, AND IN PARTICULAR WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, OR DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF USE, PERSONAL INJURY, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF DATA, OR COSTS OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SITE OR THE SERVICE, INCLUDING YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE CONCIERGE, ANY OUTPUT, FINDING, FIRM OR PROGRAMME PROFILE, OR ANY FAILURE TO SEEK PROFESSIONAL, LEGAL, FINANCIAL, OR OTHER EXPERT ASSISTANCE, WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARISE IN CONTRACT, WARRANTY, NEGLIGENCE, TORT, UNDER STATUTE, IN EQUITY, AT LAW, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW FOR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN DAMAGES, THEREFORE SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS ARE INAPPLICABLE.

12. Governing Law

These Terms, and your use of the Site and Service, shall be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. ANY DISPUTES BETWEEN US NOT SUBJECT TO ARBITRATION WILL BE LITIGATED EXCLUSIVELY BY EITHER PARTY IN A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION IN ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

13. Arbitration

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY, AS IT REQUIRES YOU TO ARBITRATE DISPUTES WITH US AND LIMITS THE MANNER IN WHICH YOU CAN SEEK RELIEF FROM US, INCLUDING A LIMITATION ON THE RIGHT TO LITIGATE CLAIMS IN A COURT OR BEFORE A JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION WITH RESPECT TO A CLAIM.

ALL CLAIMS MUST BE BROUGHT IN YOUR INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS ACTION, COLLECTIVE ACTION, PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTION OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. THIS WAIVER APPLIES TO CLASS ARBITRATION, AND, UNLESS WE AGREE OTHERWISE, THE ARBITRATOR MAY NOT CONSOLIDATE MORE THAN ONE PERSON'S CLAIMS. YOU AGREE THAT, BY ENTERING INTO THESE TERMS, WE ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, COLLECTIVE ACTION, PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTION, OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING OF ANY KIND.

We believe that arbitration is a faster, more convenient, and less expensive way to resolve any disputes or disagreements between you and us. We will make every reasonable effort to informally resolve any complaints, disputes, or disagreements that you may have with us. If those efforts fail, you agree that any complaint, dispute, or disagreement you may have against us, and any claim that we may have against you, arising out of, relating to, or connected in any way with these Terms shall be resolved exclusively by final, confidential, and binding arbitration ("Arbitration") before a single arbitrator administered by JAMS or its successor ("JAMS") and conducted in accordance with the JAMS Streamlined Arbitration Rules And Procedures in effect at the time the Arbitration is initiated or, if the amount in controversy exceeds $100,000, then in accordance with the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules And Procedures then in effect (respectively, the "Applicable Rules"). The Arbitration can resolve only your or our individual claims, and the arbitrator shall have no authority to entertain or arbitrate any claims on a class or representative basis, or to consolidate or join the claims of other persons or parties who may be similarly situated. The Applicable Rules can be found at www.jamsadr.com. The Arbitration will be conducted in Los Angeles County, California, unless we mutually agree otherwise.

Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. This section shall not prevent any party from seeking provisional remedies (that is, a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction) from a court of appropriate jurisdiction.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, you have the right to opt out and not be bound by this arbitration provision by sending written notice of your decision to opt out through the engagement request form on the home page. The written notice must be submitted within thirty (30) days of the later of the Effective Date or your first use of the Site. Your written notification must include: (1) your name, (2) your physical postal address, and (3) a clear statement that you do not wish to resolve disputes with us through arbitration. Otherwise, you shall be bound to arbitrate any disputes, claims, or controversies in accordance with the terms of this Section. If you opt out of this arbitration provision, we also will not be bound by it. If you do not affirmatively elect to opt out as described above, your use of the Site and/or any Service will be deemed to be your irrevocable acceptance of this Section.

14. Electronic Communications

The communications between us use electronic means, whether you use the Service or send us emails, or whether we post notices on the Site or communicate with you via text or email. For contractual purposes, you (a) consent to receive communications from us in an electronic form; and (b) agree that all terms and conditions, agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. The foregoing does not affect your non-waivable rights.

15. Entire Agreement

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the use of the Site and the Service, superseding any prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications and proposals, whether oral or written, between you and us (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the Terms). Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. The section titles in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. The word "including" means "including without limitation". If any provision of these Terms is, for any reason, held to be invalid or unenforceable, the other provisions of these Terms will be unimpaired, and the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed modified so that it is valid and enforceable to the maximum extent permitted by law. These Terms, and your rights and obligations herein, may not be assigned, subcontracted, delegated, or otherwise transferred by you without our prior written consent, and any attempted assignment, subcontract, delegation, or transfer in violation of the foregoing will be null and void. We may freely assign these Terms. The terms and conditions set forth in these Terms shall be binding upon assignees.

16. Intellectual Property

You acknowledge that all the intellectual property rights, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, in the Site, the Service and any content therein are owned by Arete & Associates, LLC, or our licensors. For the avoidance of doubt, we retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Concierge and all output generated by the Concierge. Neither these Terms nor your access to the Service transfers to you or any third party any rights, title, or interest in or to such intellectual property rights. There are no implied licenses granted under these Terms.

17. Force Majeure

We shall not be responsible for any delay or failure to comply with these Terms or for any liability arising to the extent due to causes beyond our reasonable control, including eminent domain, earthquake, flood, civil unrest, acts of God, war, or terrorist attacks, whether physical or electronic, or failure of the Internet.

18. Termination

These Terms are effective until terminated by either you or us. You may terminate these Terms at any time by notifying us that you no longer wish to use our Service. The obligations and liabilities of the parties incurred prior to the termination date shall survive the termination of this agreement for all purposes.

If in our sole judgment you fail, or we suspect that you have failed, to comply with any term or provision of these Terms, we also may terminate this agreement at any time without notice and you will remain liable for all amounts due up to and including the date of termination; and/or accordingly may deny you access to our Service (or any part thereof).

19. Contact Information

Questions about these Terms should be sent to the Institute through the engagement request form at the bottom of the home page.

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