Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Apexli is operated by Passage Technologies Ltd ("we", "us", "our"), a company focused on helping African students access global scholarship and education opportunities. This policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data when you use the Apexli platform.

For data protection purposes, Passage Technologies Ltd is the data controller. You can reach us at mail@scolarnav.com.

2. Data We Collect

2.1 Account information

When you register, we collect your full name, email address, country, and a hashed password (we never store your password in plain text). If you sign up via Google, we receive your name, email, and profile picture from Google — no password is stored.

2.2 CV and profile data

If you upload a CV, we parse and store its contents — including education history, work experience, skills, languages, and certifications — to power our personalised matching and coaching features. You can delete your CV at any time from your profile.

2.3 Usage data

We record which opportunities you save, your application status updates, coaching sessions, interview practice sessions, and readiness scores. This data is used to personalise your experience and is not shared with scholarship providers.

2.4 Payment data

Payments are processed by Stripe (international) or Paystack (African users). We do not store your card details — those are held securely by the payment processor. We do store a record of your subscription status, plan, and payment history.

2.5 Technical data

We collect standard server logs including IP address, browser type, and pages visited, for security monitoring and debugging. These are not linked to your personal profile.

3. How We Use Your Data

• To create and manage your account.
• To match you with relevant scholarship and funding opportunities.
• To provide AI-powered coaching, interview practice, roadmaps, and readiness scores.
• To process payments and manage your subscription.
• To send transactional emails (account verification, password reset, subscription receipts).
• To send product updates and relevant opportunities — you can opt out at any time.
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
• To comply with legal obligations.

We do not use your data to train AI models, build advertising profiles, or sell to data brokers.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your data on the following legal bases:

• Contract: Processing necessary to deliver the services you signed up for.
• Legitimate interests: Security, fraud prevention, and improving the platform.
• Consent: Marketing emails — you can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: Where we are required to retain data by law.

This policy is compliant with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA) and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

5. AI Processing

Apexli uses Claude (by Anthropic) to power its coaching, mentor, interview, and roadmap features. When you use these features, relevant parts of your profile and CV are sent to Anthropic's API to generate a response. Anthropic processes this data under their own privacy policy and does not use API inputs to train their models.

AI-generated content is for coaching purposes only. We do not share your data with scholarship committees or institutions.

6. Who We Share Data With

We share your data only with the following parties, and only as needed to deliver the service:

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data with any other third party.

7. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we permanently delete your profile, CV, coaching history, and personal data within 30 days — except where we are legally required to retain certain records (e.g. payment records for tax compliance, typically 7 years).

You can delete your CV independently from your account at any time from your profile settings.

8. Your Rights

Under applicable data protection law, you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Deletion: Ask us to delete your data (subject to legal retention obligations).
• Portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Withdrawal of consent: Opt out of marketing emails at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at mail@scolarnav.com. We will respond within 30 days. Account deletion is also available directly in your profile settings.

9. Security

We take security seriously. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt before storage — we never see your plain-text password. Data in transit is encrypted via TLS. Access to production systems is restricted to authorised team members only.

No system is perfectly secure. If you discover a vulnerability, please disclose it responsibly to mail@scolarnav.com.

10. Cookies & Local Storage

When you first visit Apexli, we display a cookie consent banner. You can choose to accept all cookies or essential cookies only. Your preference is stored in your browser so we don't ask again.

We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics cookies. You can withdraw or change your cookie consent at any time by clearing your browser's localStorage for this site.

11. Children's Privacy

Apexli is not intended for children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

12. International Transfers

Your data may be processed outside Nigeria or your home country — for example, on servers operated by MongoDB Atlas, Anthropic, or Stripe. Where this occurs, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place (such as standard contractual clauses or the recipient's certification under an equivalent framework).

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you by email or in-app notice. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

14. Contact & Complaints

For privacy-related questions or to exercise your rights, contact us at mail@scolarnav.com.

If you are based in Nigeria and are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) at ndpc.gov.ng.