Last updated June 17, 2026
Send a SAFE by YC is a service operated by Y Combinator Management, LLC and its affiliates (collectively “Y Combinator”, “we”, “us” and/or “our”). This Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy”) serves to inform you of our policies and procedures regarding the collection, use and disclosure of the information we receive when you access and use the "Send a SAFE by YC" website (the “Safe Sign Site”). The Safe Sign Site provides, among other things, tools to create and electronically sign simple agreements for future equity (“Safes”) and certain side letter agreements, as well as to view the status of such agreements (collectively, the “Services”). This Privacy Policy explains what Personal Information and certain other data we collect, how we use and disclose that data, and your choices concerning our data practices. The data we receive is described below.
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and forms part of our Terms of Use available at www.ycombinator.com/safe-terms-of-use.html .
By using the Services, you hereby represent that you have read, understand and agree to this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use and that you are over 18 years of age. PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SAFE SIGN SITE IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY.
For deletion requests and other data-subject requests, please contact us at privacy@ycombinator.com.
For California residents (defined below), see the California Privacy Rights section below for additional disclosures, our “Notice at Collection and Use of Personal Information”, and a description of your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (with any implementing regulations, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), and as may be amended from time to time, “CCPA”).
We collect information that alone or in combination with other information in our possession could be used to identify you (“Personal Information”).
If you use the Services, you will be asked to provide your email address, which is used for magic-link authentication and account-level communications. You may also be asked to provide the following categories of information that may include or constitute Personal Information:
Information you provide may include Personal Information relating to other individuals (for example, investors in your company). You represent that you have the necessary rights and permissions to provide such information to us for processing in connection with the Services.
Certain data we receive (such as derived analytical outputs or metadata) does not inherently identify you but may be considered Personal Information to the extent it is associated with your account or otherwise reasonably linkable to you.
When you visit, use, and interact with the Services, we may receive certain information about you, your visit, use, or interactions, including the following:
Analytics: Among other service providers, we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyze how users use the Safe Sign Site and enhance your experience when you use the Safe Sign Site. For more information on how Google uses this data, go to www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ . We also use New Relic, Amplitude, and PostHog.
Online Tracking and Do Not Track Signals: We do not use cross-site tracking technologies. Our Safe Sign Site does not serve advertisements or allow third-party ad networks to track you. Our Safe Sign Site currently does not respond to “Do Not Track” (“DNT”) signals and operates as described in this Privacy Policy whether or not a DNT signal is received. If we do respond to DNT signals in the future, we will update this Privacy Policy to describe how we do so.
On most web browsers, you will find a “help” section on the toolbar. Please refer to this section for information on how to receive a notification when you are receiving a new cookie and how to turn cookies off. Please see the links below for guidance on how to modify your web browser’s settings on the most popular browsers:
Please note that if you limit the ability of websites to set cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Safe Sign Site and you may not be able to benefit from the full functionality of the Safe Sign Site.
Advertising networks may use cookies to collect Personal Information. Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s online resources at http://www.networkadvertising.org and follow the opt-out instructions there.
If you access the Safe Sign Site on your mobile device, you may not be able to control tracking technologies through the settings.
We may use Personal Information for the following purposes:
We may aggregate Personal Information and use the aggregated information to analyze the effectiveness of our Services, to improve and add features to our Services, and for other similar purposes. In addition, from time to time, we may analyze the general behavior and characteristics of users of our Services and share aggregated information like general user statistics with prospective business partners. We may collect aggregated information through the Services, through cookies, and through other means described in this Privacy Policy.
In certain circumstances we may share your Personal Information with third parties without further notice to you, unless required by law, as set forth below:
Please note that for purposes of this section, “sharing” does not include “sharing” as defined under the CCPA. For additional disclosures and information on our CCPA practices, please review California Privacy Rights below.
If you choose not to provide Personal Information that is needed to use features of our Services, you may be unable to use such features. You can contact us at privacy@ycombinator.com to request to update, correct, or delete your Personal Information.
To request deletion of your Personal Information, contact us at privacy@ycombinator.com. We will respond to verified requests within the timeframes required by applicable law. Certain data may be retained as permitted by applicable law.
If you are a California resident, please review the below section, California Privacy Rights, for additional information on your rights under the CCPA.
The CCPA imposes certain obligations on us and grants certain rights to California residents (“California Resident,” “you” or “your”) with regard to “personal information.” If you are a California Resident, please review the following information about your potential rights with regard to your Personal Information under the CCPA. The rights described herein are subject to exemptions and other limitations under applicable law. Terms used herein have the meaning ascribed to them in the CCPA. We are a “business.”
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the categories of personal information from or about you as identified in “Personal Information We Collect” and including:
We may collect and use Personal Information from you for the purposes described above in “How We Use Personal Information” and described below in “Our Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Information”.
We do not sell or share your Personal Information (as those terms are defined under the CCPA).
How long we keep your Personal Information will vary depending on the type of personal data and our reasons for collecting it. The retention period will be determined by various criteria, including the purposes for which we are using it (as it will need to be kept for as long as is necessary for any of those purposes) and our legal obligations (as laws or regulations may set a minimum period for which we have to keep your personal data). In general, we will retain your Personal Information for as long as we require it to fulfill the business purposes for which it was collected, perform our contractual rights and obligations, or for periods required by our legal and regulatory obligations.
For more information about our privacy practices, please review our entire Privacy Policy.
The following disclosures are intended to provide additional information about (1) the categories of Personal Information we collect (as listed in “Information We Collect”), (2) the source of the Personal Information, (3) the business or commercial purposes for our collection of the Personal Information and (4) how we may disclose Personal Information for a business purpose. These disclosures do not limit our ability to use or disclose information as described in Sections 2 and 3. We do not sell or share your personal information (as those terms are defined under the CCPA). We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of California Residents under 16 years old.
|
Category of Personal Information |
Sources of Personal Information |
Business or Commercial Purpose for Collecting Personal Information |
Disclosure of Personal Information |
|---|---|---|---|
Identifiers and similar information |
We collect this information directly from you and through your interactions with the Services. |
We use this information to provide you with the Services, communicate with you, and for prevention of fraud and malicious activity by users of our Services. |
We disclose this information to our Affiliates, Vendors and Service Providers, and/or to other users of the Services. |
Geolocation information |
We collect this information directly from you through your interactions with the Services. |
We use this information for analytics purposes, regulatory compliance, and in some cases, for moderation and prevention of fraud and malicious activity by users of our Services. |
We disclose this information to our Affiliates and analytics providers. |
Professional or employment-related information |
We collect this information directly from you. |
We use this information to provide you with the Services. |
We disclose this information to our Affiliates, and/or to other users of the Services. |
Internet or other electronic network activity information |
We collect this information directly from you through your interactions with the Services. |
We use this information to provide you with the Services, improve the Services, for analytics, and in some cases, for moderation and prevention of fraud and malicious activity by users of our Services. |
We disclose this information to our Affiliates and certain Vendors and Service Providers. |
Inferences drawn from any of the information identified above |
We collect this information directly from you through your interactions with the Services. |
We use this information to provide you with the Services and improve the Services. |
We disclose this information to our Affiliates and certain Vendors and Service Providers. |
In addition, in the preceding 12 months, we may have disclosed all of the categories of Personal Information identified in “Information We Collect” above to the following categories of third parties: (i) judicial courts, regulators, or other government agents purporting to have jurisdiction over us, our subsidiaries or our Affiliates, or opposing counsel and parties to litigation; and (ii) other third parties as may otherwise be permitted by law. We may disclose the categories of Personal Information identified in “Information We Collect” for the business or commercial purposes identified above in “How We Use Personal Information”. Additionally, we may disclose your Personal Information to third parties upon your request, at your direction, or with your consent.
We may also disclose your Personal Information or otherwise make it available to our service providers, other entities that have agreed to limitations on the use of your Personal Information, or entities that fit within other exemptions or exceptions in, or as otherwise permitted by, the CCPA.
To the extent provided for by law and subject to applicable exceptions, California residents may have the following privacy rights in relation to the Personal Information we collect, including the right to:
The CCPA does not restrict our ability to do certain things like comply with other laws or comply with regulatory investigations. We also reserve the right to retain, and not to delete, certain Personal Information after receipt of a Request to Delete from you where permitted by the CCPA or another law or regulation.
California residents can exercise their right to Request to Know, Request to Correct or Request to Delete (“Consumer Rights Request”) as described above, through the following telephone number +1 (415) 874-1528 or by contacting us at privacy@ycombinator.com.
In order to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access or deletion, we may require you to verify your login credentials before you can submit a Consumer Rights Request. In verifying your request, we may ask you to provide additional Personal Information and proof of residency for verification. Such information may include, at a minimum, depending on the sensitivity of the information you are requesting and the type of request you are making, your name and email address. Any information gathered as part of the verification process will be used for verification purposes only. If we cannot verify your identity, we will not provide, delete or correct your Personal Information.
You may submit a Consumer Rights Request through an authorized agent. If you do so, the agent must present signed written permission to act on your behalf and you may also be required to independently verify your identity and submit proof of your residency with us.
California law requires us to inform California residents who have provided us with personal information that they may request information from us about our disclosures to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To request this information, please contact us at privacy@ycombinator.com. In your request, please specify that this is a “California 'Shine the Light' Request.”
Our Services are not directed to children who are under the age of 13. Y Combinator does not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided Personal Information to Y Combinator through the Services, please contact us at privacy@ycombinator.com and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases.
You use the Services at your own risk. We implement commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational measures designed to protect Personal Information both online and offline from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no Internet or email transmission is ever fully secure or error-free. In particular, email sent to or from us may not be secure. Therefore, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via the Services or email. Please keep this in mind when disclosing any Personal Information to Y Combinator via the Internet. In addition, we are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Services, or third-party websites.
By using our Services, you understand and acknowledge that your Personal Information will be transferred from your location to our facilities and servers in the United States.
The Services and our business may change from time to time. As a result, we may change this Privacy Policy at any time. When we do, we will post an updated version on this page, unless another type of notice is required by applicable law. By continuing to use our Services or providing us with Personal Information after we have posted an updated Privacy Policy, or notified you by other means if applicable, you consent to the revised Privacy Policy and practices described in it.
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy or information practices or need to access this Privacy Policy in a different format, please feel free to contact the legal team at privacy@ycombinator.com.