Privacy Policy

1. Responsible Entity and Contact Information

We offer an online platform through the website www.acemate.ai (hereinafter: ”Website”), where users can generate and share learning materials (hereinafter: ”acemate”). We process personal data in the context of this service. We respect your privacy and handle your personal data with care in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

This Privacy Policy applies to the processing of personal data of all users and visitors of the website.

acemate UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
c/o Technische Universität Berlin
Abteilung V – Forschung, Centre for Entrepreneurship
Hardenbergstr. 38, Sekr. AM1
10623 Berlin, Germany

represented by:
Antong Yin
Jan Tiegges
Paul Stefan Herman


Registry court: Berlin (Charlottenburg)
Register number: HRB 267108 B
VAT identification number: DE370555630

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected].

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we publish a revised version, we will make it clear on our website. You will always find the latest version of our Privacy Policy on this page.

2. Processing of Personal Data

Personal data is any information that can identify you as an individual, directly or indirectly, including your name, email address, and IP address.


We process your personal data when you use acemate and/or visit our website, for example, when you upload documents through our website or register to create an account. Some personal data is mandatory as it is necessary to offer our services. Other data is optional. You can change or delete voluntarily provided personal data at any time in your own account.


Below we explain why we process personal data, what personal data may be involved, and on what legal basis we do so.

2.1. Use of the Website and Cookies

When you visit our website, small text files are stored on your computer, smartphone, or other device. These files are called “cookies.” For detailed information about the use of cookies and similar techniques, see our Cookie Policy.

2.2. Creating an Account

When you register to create an account, it is necessary to process some of your personal data. You can register by entering your name and email address and creating an account or by registering through your social media account. In this case, we process the personal data associated with your social media profile, depending on the privacy settings you use there.


We process the following data from you:

  • First name
  • User name
  • Email address (only visible to acemate, not to other users of acemate)
  • University
  • Field of study
  • IP address

We process this personal data for the following purposes:

  • To enable you to use acemate;
  • To recommend acemate content that might be of interest to you during account creation, based on the information you provide (e.g., university);
  • To display your data (if desired, without your name) to other users of acemate when they use your documents or when you post a comment;
  • To recommend content from acemate based on your use of acemate in your account.

The legal basis for processing your personal data for purpose (1) is the fulfillment of a contract with you (use of acemate). For purposes (2), (3), and (4), we rely on a legitimate interest in informing you about updates, analyzing the use of acemate, and improving our service for users.

2.3. Use of acemate

When you use acemate, you can search, upload, and download documents and respond to other users. It is necessary to process certain personal data that we associate with your account.


When you upload documents, you may also process personal data that is part of this document. For example, your data may be visible in the title of the document you upload, the description of the document, and the content of the document may contain personal data. We would like to point out that you can anonymize your uploaded documents by not including identifiable data in these documents.


Your personal data is visible to other users in a public account on acemate. You can choose to share documents anonymously with other students. In this case, your document will not be displayed in your public account.


When you respond to documents and messages from other users, your first name will be displayed and visible to other users.


The following personal data is processed when you use acemate with your account:

  • Number of points earned in the current and previous month
  • Number of lots
  • Number of other students you have helped: your impact level
  • Uploaded documents: uploads, upvotes/downvotes, and reactions to them from other users
  • Statistics
  • Books you have read and courses you are taking
  • Reported documents: “I can’t open this document”; “The description of this document is incorrect”; “This document belongs to another subject or book”; “Other: It is free text.”
  • Payment details, including the amount of compensation you have received from us and your PayPal account.

We process this personal data for the following purposes:

  • To display your activities in an overview in your account;
  • To enable you to use acemate;
  • To perform automated quality control;
  • To display which documents a user has shared;
  • To display higher ratings for documents that have been rated better;
  • To collect payments and make payments.

The legal basis for processing your personal data for purposes (1), (2), and (6) is the fulfillment of a contract with you (use of acemate). For purposes (3), (4), and (5), we rely on a legitimate interest in offering the best possible content to the user.

2.4. Email Notifications and Marketing Emails

We send emails to users who have created an account. These include the following types of emails:

  • Weekly updates on new documents uploaded to the courses you are following;
  • Tips and offers based on your use of acemate, such as new learning tools;
  • Updates on business courses, in-house days, and other interesting options that you can include in your resume;
  • Updates on our other services, such as exam preparations;
  • Updates on new features or important changes on the website, up to 6 times a year.

The following personal data is processed for this:

  • Your email address
  • First name
  • The content you have viewed with your account
  • The courses you are following

We process this personal data for the following purposes:

  • To inform you about our own services (including activating your account, confirming your payment, etc.);
  • To send messages with relevant information on updates within the topics and books you have viewed;
  • To inform you about other services.

The legal basis for processing your personal data for purpose (1) is our legitimate interest in informing you about offers and interesting news about acemate and sending personalized messages that match the content you have viewed. For purposes (2) and (3), we ask for your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time. You can unsubscribe from emails by clicking on “Unsubscribe” at the end of each email from us or by changing your settings in your account settings. If you unsubscribe, acemate recommends that you regularly check acemate or social media for new offers.

2.5. Help Center

If you have a question for us, you can contact our Help Center. You can send us a message via a web form. It is necessary to process the following personal data from you:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Free text field with your question or message to us

We process this personal data for the following purposes:

  • To answer your question or respond to your message
  • To contact you in the context of processing your question
  • To analyze the most frequently asked questions to improve the service.

The legal basis for processing your personal data for purposes (1) and (2) is the fulfillment of a contract with you: answering your question or responding to your message and for purpose (3) our legitimate interest in improving the service.

3. Automated Decision Making and Profiling

We may use technologies that are considered automated decision-making or profiling. We do not make automated decisions about you that have a significant impact on you or significantly affect you.

4. Sharing Your Personal Data

4.1. Internal Sharing

acemate only shares your personal data internally with employees who are authorized to access your data if it is necessary for their work.

4.2. Outsourcing of Work and Collaboration with Partners

In the context of outsourcing certain activities, we may share personal data with external parties, so-called processors, with whom we have concluded processing agreements and who are not allowed to use your data for their own purposes.


Some external parties are independently or jointly responsible with acemate for processing your personal data, for example, if you create an account there (e.g., Facebook or PayPal). We also conclude agreements with these parties for the careful processing of your data.


Among others, the following external parties have access to (part of) your data:

  • Payment providers
  • Social media providers
  • Advertising networks (see our Cookie Policy)
  • SaaS cloud providers
  • Software providers for analysis purposes
  • Communication software providers
  • Stability software providers for acemate

4.3. Other

We may share your personal data with other parties we need in the context of our services, such as lawyers or bailiffs. Otherwise, we only share data with third parties if you have given us your consent, if we are legally or by official order obliged to do so, or if we consider it necessary to protect our own interests and/or the interests of third parties.

5. Transfer of Personal Data

Your personal data will only be stored or processed by us or by commissioned third parties outside the European Union (and the EEA) if this complies with the applicable regulations for the transfer of personal data to countries outside the European Union. This means that we only transfer your personal data to countries outside the European Union if the European Union has decided that the respective third country ensures an adequate level of protection or if other appropriate safeguards are offered, such as an adequacy decision or the use of standard data protection clauses approved by the European Commission. You can find them at https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/model-contracts-transfer-personal-data-third-countries_en.

6. Retention Periods

We do not retain your personal data longer than necessary for the purposes for which the personal data is processed, as described in this Privacy Policy. In certain cases, we are required to retain personal data longer if a statutory retention period applies. If we need to retain personal data for a longer period based on the legitimate interest of protecting our rights or the rights of third parties, we will retain the necessary personal data until the conclusion of the relevant incidents and/or claims.


If you exercise your right to delete your personal data, you can delete your data in some cases earlier. We explain this further below under the heading “Your Rights.”

We use the following retention periods:
  • Use of the website and cookies (see our Cookie Policy)
  • Account information: until you delete your account or have been inactive for longer than 15 months;
  • Email notifications: until you unsubscribe;
  • Help Center: a maximum of 1 year.

7. Security

We take the protection of personal data seriously and acemate takes appropriate measures to prevent misuse, loss, unauthorized access, unwanted disclosure, and unauthorized changes. Additionally, you can take the following measures yourself to secure your account:

  • Use a strong password;
  • Inform us promptly about changes to your personal data or incidents related to your personal data;
  • Be cautious when disclosing personal information about yourself in your public account, on social media, and through messages;
  • Log out after visiting our website if you use a public computer.

8. Your Rights

You can ask us to exercise your rights regarding your personal data:

  • Withdrawal of consent: You can ask us to withdraw your consent once it has been given. We will then stop processing your personal data in the future unless there is another reason that obliges us to do so.
  • Access: You can ask us what personal data we process about you. If we do, we will tell you what personal data is processed, for what purpose, with which third parties it is shared, the retention periods used, the source from which personal data may have been collected outside of you, and information about any automated decision-making. In your own account, you can view most of your data and check for accuracy.
  • Correction: You can ask us to correct or supplement your personal data if this personal data is inaccurate or incomplete. In your own account, you can review and adjust most of your data.
  • Deletion: You can ask us to delete your personal data if the personal data is no longer relevant for the purpose for which it was collected, if consent has been withdrawn, if you object to the processing of personal data based on a legitimate interest, or if the processing of personal data is unlawful. You can delete your own account at any time. Sometimes we are required to retain your data for a certain period, see the heading “Retention Periods.”
  • Restriction of processing: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data if the accuracy of the personal data is disputed, the processing of personal data is unlawful, but you do not want it to be deleted, or if you are waiting for a response to a request to exercise the right to object. In this case, we will still store the data, but will not process it further.
  • Objection: You can object to the processing of your personal data if the data processing is based on our legitimate interest, including the use of personal data for direct marketing purposes.
  • Data portability: You can ask us to receive your personal data in a structured, current, and machine-readable format or to transfer it to another organization if the data processing is automatic and based on consent or a contract.

You can make a request to exercise the above rights by contacting us at [email protected]. We strive to respond within four weeks of receiving the request.

You can also file a complaint with the competent data protection authority if you believe that acemate has violated your data protection rights.

9. Use of Google Analytics

Description of the service:
This is a web analytics service. It allows you to measure the advertising return on investment (ROI) and track user behavior with Flash, video, websites, and applications.

Processing company:
Google Ireland Limited

Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland

Data Protection Officer of the processing company:
https://support.google.com/policies/contact/general_privacy_form

Data processing purposes:

  • Marketing
  • Analysis

Technologies used:
  • Cookies
  • Pixels
  • JavaScript

Collected data:
  • Click path
  • Date and time of visit
  • Device information
  • Location information
  • IP address
  • Visited pages
  • Referrer URL
  • Browser information
  • Hostname
  • Browser language
  • Browser type
  • Screen resolution
  • Device operating system
  • Interaction data
  • User behavior
  • Visited URL
  • Cookie ID

Legal basis:
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR

Place of processing:
European Union

Retention period:
The retention period depends on the type of data stored. Each user can choose how long Google Analytics stores data before it is automatically deleted.

Transfer to third countries:
  • United States of America

Data recipients:
Storage information:
  • Maximum cookie storage limit: 2 years
  • Non-cookie storage: no

10. Use of Microsoft Clarity

Description of the service:
Microsoft Clarity is a tool for creating heatmaps that allows you to record and analyze user behavior on your website. This helps you understand which areas of your website are particularly in focus and where the weaknesses are.

Processing company:
Microsoft Corporation

One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA

Data Protection Officer of the processing company:
https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement

Data processing purposes:
  • Analysis
  • Website improvement

Technologies used:
  • Cookies
  • JavaScript

Collected data:
  • IP address
  • Location
  • Browser information
  • Display resolution
  • Language settings
  • Visited website/subpages
  • Date/time of access to the website
  • Clicks, scrolls, mouse movements

Legal basis:
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR

Place of processing:
United States of America, European Union

Retention period:
The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the purposes of processing.

Transfer to third countries:
  • United States of America

Data recipients:

11. Use of PostHog

Description of the service:
PostHog is an analytics tool that helps website operators understand user interactions and behavior to improve the user experience.

Processing company:
PostHog Inc.
965 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA

Data Protection Officer of the processing company:
[email protected]

Data processing purposes:

  • Analysis
  • Website improvement

Technologies used:
  • Cookies
  • JavaScript

Collected data:
  • Click path
  • Mouse movements
  • Scroll behavior
  • IP address
  • Timestamp
  • Referrer URL
  • Browser type
  • Device operating system

Legal basis:
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR

Place of processing:
European Union (AWS eu-central-1 region in Frankfurt, Germany)

Retention period:
The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the purposes of processing.

Transfer to third countries:
PostHog Cloud EU is a completely independent instance of PostHog. All event data, user data, and the product itself are hosted on the PostHog infrastructure in the EU (Frankfurt am Main, Germany).

Data recipients:

12. Use of TikTok Pixel

Description of the service:
The TikTok Pixel is a web analytics service that helps track user behavior on a website, measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, and optimize advertisements based on user interactions.

Processing company:
TikTok Technology Limited

10 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, D02 T380, Ireland

Data Protection Officer of the processing company:
https://www.tiktok.com/legal/privacy-policy

Data processing purposes:

  • Marketing
  • Advertising optimization
  • Analysis

Technologies used:
  • Cookies
  • Pixels
  • JavaScript

Collected data:
  • IP address
  • Device information
  • Browser type
  • Location data
  • Click path
  • Viewed pages
  • Ad interactions
  • Timestamp

Legal basis:
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR

Place of processing:
European Union

Retention period:
The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the purposes of processing.

Transfer to third countries:
  • United States of America

Data recipients:

13. Use of Meta Pixel

Description of the service:
The Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel) is a tool that tracks user actions on a website, enabling better ad targeting and performance tracking for advertising campaigns on Meta platforms.

Processing company:
Meta Platforms Ireland Limited

4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland

Data Protection Officer of the processing company:
https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation

Data processing purposes:

  • Marketing
  • Advertising optimization
  • Analysis

Technologies used:
  • Cookies
  • Pixels
  • JavaScript

Collected data:
  • IP address
  • Device information
  • Browser type
  • Location data
  • Click path
  • Viewed pages
  • Ad interactions
  • Timestamp

Legal basis:
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR

Place of processing:
European Union

Retention period:
The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the purposes of processing.

Transfer to third countries:
  • United States of America

Data recipients:

14. Contact Information

If you have any questions or issues related to this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected].


Last update: July 13 2024