PRIVACY POLICY

Effective Date: January 1, 2026

Vertical Launch, LLC ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect through our website (the "Site"), how we use and share that information, and your rights regarding your data. This Policy applies to personal information collected from users in the United States. By using our Site, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Information We Collect

• Contact and Inquiry Data: When you fill out a contact form, newsletter sign-up, or job application through our Site, we collect the information you provide. This may include your name, business contact details (email address, phone number, company affiliation), and any other information you include in messages or upload (e.g., resumes or cover letters for job applications).
• Usage Data: Like most websites, we and our hosting platform collect technical data when you visit. This includes your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, pages visited, timestamps, referring URLs, and information about how you interact with the Site (such as clicks and scrolling). The site's built-in analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to track page views, referrers, geography, and device information. See our Cookie Policy for more details.
• No Account or Payment Data: We do not require user account registration or logins. We do not process online payments or collect financial information on this Site.
• No Children's Data: Our Site and services are intended for business use by adults. We do not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 where applicable). If we learn we have received information from a child under 13, we will delete it.

2. How We Use Personal Information

We use the personal information we collect for the following purposes:

• Responding to Inquiries and Applications: To respond to messages you send through a contact form or to follow up on a job application.
• Operating and Improving Our Site: To analyze how visitors interact with the Site via analytics, to optimize website performance and content, and to ensure the Site functions correctly.
• Recruitment: If you submit a job application, we use the provided information to evaluate your candidacy and contact you about the hiring process.
• Administrative Communication: To send you administrative emails (e.g., updates to our policies or terms). We do not send marketing or promotional emails, and we do not utilize any email marketing platform. We will respond to general inquiries made through contact forms on the site.
• Legal and Security: To protect the security of our website, prevent fraud, enforce our Terms of Use, or comply with legal obligations (e.g., to respond to lawful government requests).

We will not use your personal information for purposes materially different from the above without informing you and obtaining consent if required.

3. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies on our Site, primarily through our website host, Squarespace. These cookies help our Site function and allow us to understand page-level usage. For details on the types of cookies and your choices, please see our Cookie Policy (below). We do not use cookies for third-party advertising or retargeting on our Site.

4. Disclosure of Your Information

We disclose personal information only in the following circumstances:

• Service Providers: We share information with third-party service providers who help run our website or business operations. This primarily includes our hosting provider that hosts our Site and processes data (including form submissions and analytics data) on our behalf. Our hosting provider acts as a data processor for information your End Users submit through forms on our Site and processes it pursuant to our instructions. These service providers are authorized to use your information only as necessary to provide services to us.
• Embedded Content Providers: Our Site features embedded third-party content, specifically YouTube/Vimeo videos and Google Maps. When you interact with this content, the third-party providers (Google, YouTube, Vimeo) may collect certain data such as your IP address and set their own cookies, as if you visited their websites directly. We do not control the data practices of these providers; please review their respective privacy policies.
• Legal Requirements and Protection: We may disclose personal information if required by law or in a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to: (i) comply with legal obligations or respond to lawful requests (e.g., a court order or subpoena); (ii) protect and defend our rights or property; (iii) prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with our Site; or (iv) protect the personal safety of users or the public.
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of company assets, user information may be transferred as part of that transaction. Your information would remain subject to the protections in this Policy.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes.

5. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect personal information. Our website utilizes our hosting provider's built-in security features, including SSL encryption for data transmitted between your browser and our Site. We also limit access to personal data to those in our organization who need it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law:

• Contact form inquiries: Kept until we have responded to your request and any follow-up is complete, then securely deleted.
• Job application data: Kept through the application process and for a reasonable period afterward (e.g., one year) for legal defense purposes or in case of future openings, then securely deleted. If you become an employee, your information will be retained per employment record requirements.
• Newsletter sign-up data: Retained until no longer needed for the purpose collected. (Note: We do not currently send newsletters or use email marketing tools.)

We dispose of personal information in a secure manner when it is no longer required.

7. Your Privacy Rights

California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the CPRA (Cal. Civ. Code §1798.100 et seq.):

• Right to Know: Request that we disclose what personal information we have collected about you, including the categories of information, sources, purposes, and third parties with whom we share it.
• Right to Delete: Request that we delete personal information we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to Correct: Request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: You have the right to opt out of the "sale" of personal information or sharing for targeted advertising. Note: We do not sell personal data or share it for behavioral advertising.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not deny services, charge different prices, or provide different quality of service because you exercise your privacy rights.

Virginia Residents (VCDPA)

If you are a Virginia resident, you have rights under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (Va. Code §59.1-575 et seq., effective January 1, 2023), including the rights to access your data, correct inaccuracies, delete data, obtain a portable copy, and opt out of certain processing (e.g., sale of data or targeted advertising, neither of which we engage in). Virginia residents also have the right to appeal a refusal to take action on a rights request; if you wish to appeal our decision, please let us know and we will review and respond as required by law.

Colorado Residents (CPA)

If you are a Colorado resident, you have similar rights under the Colorado Privacy Act (Colo. Rev. Stat. §6-1-1301 et seq., effective July 1, 2023), including the rights to access, correct, delete, and obtain a portable copy of your data, and to opt out of the sale of personal data or targeted advertising.

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of the above rights, please contact us at the address listed in Section 9. We will respond within the timeframe required by law (generally 45 days, with the possibility of a lawful extension). We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests. If we decline any part of your request, we will explain our reasoning.

8. Third-Party Privacy Policies

Our website is built on the Squarespace platform. Squarespace may collect certain personal data about site visitors for its own purposes (for example, processing data for analytics or security). In those instances, Squarespace's own Privacy Policy (effective December 16, 2025) and Cookie Policy (effective May 14, 2018) apply to such processing. We encourage you to review Squarespace's policies to understand how they handle your data. Additionally, any external website you navigate to via a link on our Site will have its own privacy practices; this Policy does not apply to information collected on other websites not operated by us.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise any of your privacy rights, please contact us at:

Vertical Launch LLC - Privacy Inquiries
3100 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22201
Email: info@verticallaunch.com

Please include your name, contact information, and a description of the nature of your request. For privacy requests, please describe your relationship with us (e.g., "website visitor who submitted a contact form on [date]") so we can locate your information.

10. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we do, we will revise the "Effective Date" at the top. If changes are significant, we may provide additional notice (such as a banner on our Site). Your continued use of our website after changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.