The Investec Early Stage Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2026 — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 August 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how OPUS Community Limited collects, uses, shares and protects personal information in connection with the Investec Early Stage Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2026, also known as the Easies or the ESEYs (the Awards).

We take the privacy of founders seriously. This notice is intended to explain clearly what happens to your information when you start or submit an application, how technology and our partners are involved in reviewing applications, and the choices and rights available to you.

1. Who we are

The Awards are organised by OPUS Community Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 12860792, with its registered office at 10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1AG.

For most processing relating to your Easies application, OPUS is the data controller, which means we determine why and how your personal information is used.

You can contact us about this Privacy Policy or your personal information at support@theeasies.com.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) or, where applicable, another data protection authority in the country in which you live.

2. What information we collect

The information we collect will depend on how far you progress through the application process.

Founder and contact information may include your name, email address, telephone number, country of residence, date of birth, pronouns, LinkedIn profile, headshot and information about any co-founders you include in the application.

Company information may include your company name, website and LinkedIn page, company logo, company description, headquarters and company registration information, the date the company was founded, funding stage and funding history, fundraising status, team size, revenue information including MRR or ARR where provided, customer or user numbers, and other information about your company's traction, performance and development.

Application information may include the award categories you select, your answers to application and narrative questions, information about your founder journey and business, your pitch deck, an optional founder introduction video, eligibility declarations, judging and assessment information, scores, rankings, flags and other assessment outputs generated during the review process, shortlist, voting, finalist and winner outcomes, and correspondence relating to your application.

Technical and usage information may include your IP address, browser and device information, operating system, application start and completion information, time spent completing your application, pages or application steps visited, information needed to save and restore an incomplete application, and information collected through cookies and similar technologies.

3. Information about other people

Your application may allow you to provide information about co-founders or other members of your company.

If you provide personal information about another person, you should ensure that you are entitled to provide that information to us and that they are aware that their information will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Where a company has multiple founders, the nominated lead founder will be treated as the primary applicant and contact for the Awards.

4. How we use your information

We may use your personal information to:

• create, save and administer your application;
• determine whether you and your company meet the Awards' eligibility criteria;
• assess your application against the relevant category criteria;
• review, score, rank and shortlist applications;
• administer judging and public voting;
• communicate with you about the status of your application;
• verify information supplied in an application;
• prevent duplicate, fraudulent or otherwise invalid applications;
• administer prizes and benefits for finalists and winners;
• organise related events, publicity and the Davos programme;
• identify founders who may be suitable for introductions, opportunities or support from OPUS and participating Easies partners;
• consider whether you may be suitable for OPUS membership or other OPUS founder initiatives;
• operate and improve the Awards and our application and review processes;
• produce aggregated or anonymised reporting and analysis;
• protect the security and integrity of our systems; and
• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

5. AI-assisted application review

We use technology, including artificial intelligence and automated analysis provided through Caplia, to assist us in reviewing the volume of applications received for the Awards.

This may include analysing information in your application and pitch deck to:

• check or flag eligibility;
• assess your application against category-specific criteria;
• assess founder and company characteristics relevant to the Awards;
• produce scores, rankings, ratings or other assessment outputs; and
• help OPUS identify applications for further human review.

These tools assist the application process, but final decisions about shortlisting, finalist selection and selecting Awards winners are not intended to be made solely by an automated system. OPUS and/or the Awards' judges retain human oversight of the selection process and may review, challenge or override automated assessments.

If you believe information used to assess your application is inaccurate, or have questions about how your application has been assessed, you can contact us at support@theeasies.com.

6. Caplia and the application platform

OPUS has partnered with Caplia Technologies Ltd ("Caplia") to provide application infrastructure, application analysis and scoring technology for the 2026 Awards.

Caplia acting for OPUS

When Caplia processes your information in order to host, manage, analyse or score Easies applications on OPUS's behalf, OPUS is the controller and Caplia acts as our processor.

Caplia may process application information, pitch decks and associated materials to provide the application and review services to us.

The Caplia Passport

Applicants who complete and submit an Easies application may also be enrolled into a Caplia Passport, Caplia account or trial, as explained during the application journey.

For activities relating to your own Caplia Passport or your direct relationship with Caplia, Caplia acts as an independent data controller and is responsible for its own use of your information.

This may include contacting you about:

• activating and accessing your Caplia Passport;
• onboarding;
• improving your fundraising or capital-readiness profile;
• use of the Caplia platform; and
• where lawfully permitted and in accordance with the choices presented to you, Caplia products or services.

Caplia's own terms and privacy notice will apply to its independent relationship with you.

7. Award sponsors, partners and judges

The Easies are delivered with a network of category sponsors, investment partners, enterprise partners, judges and other programme partners.

Some approved partners may be given gated access to applications that are relevant to their particular award category, investment thesis or commercial area of interest.

Partners do not receive unrestricted access to the entire Easies applicant database simply because they are an Awards partner.

Depending on the partner and its role, information visible to them may include:

• founder and company profile information;
• application responses;
• pitch materials;
• company stage and traction information;
• relevant scoring or assessment information; and
• information required for judging or assessing a potential introduction.

Partner access is configured and controlled by OPUS. Partners are not permitted to use the application platform to bulk export applicant information or contact applicants directly through the platform unless this has specifically been authorised.

Partners may identify founders to whom they would like an introduction. Requests for introductions are facilitated by OPUS, and we will take account of applicable permissions and data protection requirements before making an introduction.

Where a partner subsequently establishes a direct relationship with you, that partner will generally become responsible for its own processing of your information and its own privacy notice will apply.

8. Investec, Day Zero and other key Awards partners

As headline partner of the Awards, Investec may receive personal information where reasonably necessary for the administration, judging, operation, promotion or delivery of the Awards and associated winner experiences.

Information may also be shared with Day Zero or the relevant investment entity in connection with the global investment prize, including where necessary to assess a potential winner, undertake appropriate due diligence or administer an investment.

We may also share appropriate applicant information with judges, category partners, investment partners and other approved Easies partners where this is necessary to operate the Awards or where we have another lawful basis for doing so.

Where a third party wishes to use your personal information for its own marketing, we will only permit this where there is an appropriate legal basis and, where required, you have been given the opportunity to provide a separate consent.

9. Shortlist, voting, finalist and publicity

Part of the Easies is designed to celebrate and amplify participating founders.

If you progress to the shortlist, public voting, finalist or winner stage, we may publish or use selected information about you and your company for the purpose of operating and promoting the Awards.

This may include:

• your name;
• company name;
• job title or founder status;
• company logo;
• headshot;
• company description;
• award category;
• website or social profile;
• selected information or quotations from your application; and
• your status as a shortlisted founder, finalist or winner.

This information may appear on Easies and OPUS websites, public voting pages, social media, press materials, broadcast content, events and materials produced with Awards partners.

We will not ordinarily publish confidential financial information, your pitch deck, private contact details or other non-public application materials as part of the public voting or publicity process.

10. Marketing and other founder opportunities

We may contact you with information necessary to administer your Easies application regardless of your marketing preferences. These are service communications rather than marketing.

Where permitted by law, we may also tell you about relevant OPUS programmes, events, membership opportunities or founder support connected with your relationship with the Easies.

Where consent is required for electronic marketing, we will ask for it separately. You can withdraw marketing consent or opt out of marketing communications at any time using the unsubscribe mechanism provided or by contacting us at support@theeasies.com.

Opting out of marketing will not affect your Easies application or prevent us from sending communications that are necessary to administer the Awards.

We will not treat acceptance of the Awards Terms and Conditions or this Privacy Policy as blanket consent to receive unrelated third-party marketing.

11. Our lawful bases for processing

Under applicable data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information.

Depending on the activity, we rely principally on the following bases.

Performance of our agreement with you

Where processing is necessary to accept, administer and assess your application and deliver the Awards in accordance with the Awards Terms and Conditions.

Legitimate interests

Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of another party and those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.

These interests include:

• operating and improving the Awards;
• efficiently assessing a large number of applications;
• protecting the integrity and security of the Awards;
• working with judges and relevant Awards partners;
• connecting founders with relevant opportunities;
• understanding and improving our founder community; and
• developing OPUS and the Easies programme.

Consent

Where we ask for your specific agreement, particularly for certain marketing activities or third-party communications.

You can withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that took place before your consent was withdrawn.

Legal obligations

Where we need to use or retain information to comply with applicable laws, regulatory requirements, court orders or other legal obligations.

12. Who else we may share information with

In addition to the organisations described above, we may share information with:

• hosting, CRM, cloud storage, communications and IT service providers;
• website and application technology providers;
• analytics and security providers;
• professional advisers including lawyers, accountants, auditors and insurers;
• event, travel and logistics providers where required to deliver winner benefits;
• press and media organisations in connection with public finalists and winners;
• regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies or courts where required by law; and
• a purchaser, investor or successor in connection with a reorganisation, sale or transfer of all or part of our business, subject to appropriate safeguards.

We require service providers processing information on our behalf to protect it appropriately and use it only for authorised purposes.

13. International transfers

The Easies are a global programme and some applicants, partners and service providers are located outside the United Kingdom.

Your information may therefore be processed in countries outside the UK.

Where UK data protection law requires us to put safeguards in place for an international transfer, we will use an appropriate lawful transfer mechanism.

You can contact us at support@theeasies.com if you would like further information about the safeguards used for a particular transfer.

14. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, taking account of the nature of the information, our legal obligations, the Awards process and any continuing relationship with you.

Incomplete applications

If you start an Easies application but do not complete and submit it, we will delete the personal information contained in that incomplete application after 45 days of inactivity, unless we are required to retain particular information for security, legal or compliance purposes.

This allows you a reasonable period to return to and complete an application without us retaining abandoned application data indefinitely.

Submitted applications

Information relating to a submitted application may be kept for longer where necessary to:

• operate and complete the 2026 Awards;
• maintain records of judging and Awards outcomes;
• administer prizes, winner support and Davos participation;
• deal with queries, complaints or legal claims;
• maintain appropriate historical and audit records;
• manage any ongoing relationship between you and OPUS; or
• comply with applicable legal obligations.

Where we no longer need identifiable information, we may delete it or anonymise it so that it can be used for statistical, research or programme-analysis purposes without identifying you.

Information held independently by another controller, such as Caplia in relation to a Caplia Passport or an Awards partner with whom you establish a direct relationship, will be retained in accordance with that organisation's own privacy policy.

15. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

Access to non-public application information is restricted to OPUS personnel, service providers, judges and approved partners who need that access for an authorised purpose.

Partner access to applications is designed to be permissioned so that partners see only the applicant information OPUS has authorised them to access.

No internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take appropriate steps to reduce risk and maintain procedures for responding to suspected personal data breaches.

16. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights in relation to your personal information.

Under UK data protection law, these may include the right to:

• be informed about how your information is used;
• request access to the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• ask us to erase personal information in certain circumstances;
• ask us to restrict processing;
• object to certain processing based on legitimate interests;
• object at any time to processing for direct marketing;
• receive certain information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent where we rely on consent; and
• raise a complaint with the ICO.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exemptions.

To exercise your rights, please contact support@theeasies.com. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request.

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy where the Awards, our technology, our partners or applicable law changes.

Where a change materially affects how we use information already provided to us, we will take reasonable steps to bring the change to the attention of affected applicants where required.

The latest version will be published on the Easies website.

18. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, how your Easies application is handled, or your personal information, please contact:

OPUS Community Limited
10 Queen Street Place
London EC4R 1AG
United Kingdom

Email: support@theeasies.com