Maven Research, Inc. Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 3, 2026

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

Maven Research, Inc. (“Maven,” “we,” “us”) runs an expert network. We connect organizations that need specialized knowledge (“Clients”) with professionals who share it (“Experts”) through interviews, surveys and similar engagements.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal information when you visit www.maven.co or www.mavenx.ai, use Maven-branded apps, or take part in our services (together, the “Services”). It does not cover services that say they are offered under a different privacy policy. People who browse our website without an account are “Visitors.”

Maven is the controller of personal information processed through the Services. When we process information on a Client’s behalf under a Client agreement (for example, a participant list a Client gives us), we act as that Client’s service provider or processor, and the Client’s privacy notice also applies.

We refer to the European Union, European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland as the “Designated Countries.”

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

If you are	We collect
An Expert	Name, email, phone, physical address, resume, professional biography, current and past employment, areas of expertise, answers to screening questions, compliance attestations (such as employer restrictions, confidentiality obligations, government roles and conflicts), professional disciplinary history where relevant to vetting, felony conviction history (asked during onboarding and annual recertification), availability, and payment details (bank, wire or PayPal details, which go to our payment providers) and tax information (tax forms and Social Security or Employer Identification Numbers)
A Client	Name, business email and phone, company, role, project and request details, billing information, and communications with us
A Visitor	Information you submit through forms, such as name, email and company

Information from interviews and surveys. When you take part in an engagement, we collect scheduling details, survey responses, and, where applicable, call recordings, AI-moderated interview responses, transcripts, AI-generated summaries and notes (see Section 5).

Information collected automatically. When you use our website or Services, or open our emails, we collect log and device information, such as IP address, browser type, operating system, referring and exit pages, date and time stamps, pages viewed, and whether an email was opened or a link clicked. We collect this through cookies and similar technologies (see Section 7).

Information from other sources. We may receive information about Experts from publicly available professional sources (such as LinkedIn, company websites and publications), from referrals by other Experts or Clients, and from identity or employment verification providers. If you sign in with LinkedIn, Google or Facebook, we receive your name, email and the profile details you choose to share with us. Your use of those services is governed by their privacy policies. We do not receive your password.

Sensitive information. We do not ask for information about health, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or similar categories. Identity verification may involve biometric information, as described in Section 6. We also ask whether you have any felony convictions, as part of compliance vetting. Please do not share this information about yourself or others, including patient information, during an engagement.

3. How we use information

The table shows each purpose and, for people in the Designated Countries, the legal basis we rely on.

Purpose	Legal basis (Designated Countries)
Verify Experts’ identity and experience, decide whether to accept them, and manage our relationship	Contract; legitimate interests in running a trusted network
Match Experts to Client projects and share Expert profiles with Clients	Contract; legitimate interests
Run compliance screening to help prevent the sharing of confidential or material non-public information, and assess eligibility, including asking about felony convictions so we can apply Clients’ legal and regulatory screening requirements	Legitimate interests; legal obligations. Felony conviction information is processed only where applicable law permits
Schedule and deliver interviews and surveys, including recording and transcription where applicable	Contract; legitimate interests; Expert’s prior consent for recording
Pay Experts, bill Clients, and meet tax and accounting requirements	Contract; legal obligation
Send service messages, such as account, scheduling and security notices	Contract; legitimate interests
Send newsletters and news about our services	Consent where required; otherwise legitimate interests, with an opt-out in every message
Operate, secure and improve the Services, and produce aggregated statistics and market research	Legitimate interests; consent where required for analytics cookies
Detect and prevent fraud, bots and fake accounts, including identity checks	Legitimate interests; legal obligation; explicit consent for biometric verification
Use de-identified screening answers, survey responses, transcripts and summaries, combined with other information, for research and analysis, service development, and training and running AI tools that answer research questions for Clients	Legitimate interests
Comply with law, respond to lawful requests, and protect rights and safety	Legal obligation; legitimate interests

What we do not do. We do not sell recordings, transcripts or other personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not work with advertising partners. We do not track your precise location. Automated matching is described in Section 5.

4. How we share information

We share personal information only as described here:

• With Clients. For interviews, the Client sees profile information relevant to the project, such as your biography, relevant employment history and screening answers. For surveys, the Client sees your Maven member number, current job title, location (city and country) and your answers. The Client can also view your biography and work history, including past employers. Your name, current employer and contact details are hidden. A Client that receives recordings, transcripts or survey responses handles them under its own policies and its agreement with us, and may keep them under its own legal obligations and contractual rights, even if you later ask us to delete your information. For some engagements, we share your contact details with a Client, but only with your prior written consent. Clients never see your answers about felony convictions. A Client may ask us to exclude Experts with felony convictions from its projects, usually because laws or regulations in its industry restrict it from engaging them.
• With Experts. We share a Client’s identity with an Expert only as the engagement requires and the Client permits.
• With service providers. These include providers of hosting, website analytics, customer support chat, fraud prevention, CRM, scheduling, conferencing, transcription, identity and employment verification, payments, tax compliance and email delivery. They may use the information only to provide services to us, under contracts that require appropriate confidentiality and security.
• Through our AI tools. Our AI tools give Clients summarized answers drawn from de-identified content from many Experts. They do not share your identity, your individual responses or transcripts with other Clients (see Section 5).
• For legal reasons. We share information when required by law or lawful request, including requests from public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. We also share it when we believe in good faith that it is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Maven, our users or others.
• In business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, sale of assets or bankruptcy, information may transfer to the other party, subject to this policy.
• With your consent or at your direction.

Our website has public blogs and community forums. Anything you post there can be read, collected and used by others. If you cannot remove a post yourself, you can ask us to remove it by emailing privacy@maven.co. If we cannot remove it, we will tell you why.

5. Interviews, recordings and AI tools

Recordings and transcripts. We record an interview only with the Expert’s prior consent. Live interviews with a Client are set to be recorded by default. We tell Experts this during screening and qualification and give them the chance to opt out of recording before the interview. AI-moderated interviews work differently, as described below. Clients are also told in advance that an interview will be recorded and can turn recording off. We use AI tools to transcribe and summarize recorded interviews. Recordings, transcripts and summaries are delivered to the Client that paid for the interview, for that Client’s own use. Maven also keeps them (transcripts and summaries indefinitely; recordings for 7 years). We create de-identified copies of screening answers, survey responses, transcripts and summaries, with your name, employer and other identifying details removed. We use these, combined with other information, for research and analysis, to improve and develop our services, and to train and run AI tools that answer research questions for our Clients. These tools give summarized answers drawn from many sources, do not provide your individual responses or transcripts to other Clients, and are designed not to identify you. We do not sell recordings or transcripts. We keep interview content in identifiable form for 7 years after the interview, as required for compliance with applicable laws. After 7 years, we remove your name and other directly identifying details from transcripts and summaries; the de-identified content stays in our platform. We keep audio and video recordings for 7 years after the interview and then delete them. Because Experts are paid for interviews on this basis, we generally cannot delete this content on request. Where the law gives you a right to request deletion, we will consider it under that law (see Section 9).

AI tools. Experts apply to be considered for the projects they choose. We use automated tools, including AI, to decide whether applicants qualify. For interviews, we present qualified applicants to the Client, who decides whether to engage an Expert. For surveys, qualified Experts go directly into the survey. Some engagements are AI-moderated interviews, in which an AI interviewer asks the questions and your answers are recorded, transcribed and summarized for the Client. We tell you before an engagement starts that it is AI-moderated, and taking part is optional. AI-moderated interviews may take place by voice, video, text or a combination. They are always recorded, and recording cannot be turned off. If you do not want to be recorded, you can decline the AI-moderated interview. Our providers may not use your information to train their own models.

Healthcare Experts. Maven does not seek protected health information. Experts must not share patient-identifiable information during an engagement. If any is shared, we delete it from our records when we become aware of it.

6. Identity verification and fraud prevention

We use third-party service providers to verify your identity and to help detect and prevent fraud, duplicate accounts, impersonation and other misuse of the Services. Verification is required before you can take part in certain opportunities or receive payments.

Depending on the verification process, our providers may collect government-issued identification documents, photographs or video of your face, information taken from your identification document, and technical information about your device and connection. Verification may involve comparing your face with the photo on your identification document and using automated technology to confirm that you are a real person and to detect fraud. Comparing faces creates biometric information. Our verification provider collects and processes biometric information as an independent controller and asks for your consent before doing so.

Maven receives the results of verification, including the decision, a risk score and any reasons for failure. We also keep details read from your identification document (such as your name, ID number, date of birth and address), the IP address and device and browser information used during verification, a face-match score, and links to your identification images and photo, which stay stored with our provider. We use this information to confirm your verification status, decide whether you can take part in certain activities, protect the integrity of the Services, and investigate suspected fraud or misuse. When you verify through our provider, Maven does not store copies of your identification images or photo. If you instead verify manually by sending us a copy of your identification, we delete it immediately once verification is complete.

Our providers keep biometric information only until the purpose of verification has been met, and no longer than 3 years after your last interaction with them. We do not sell verification or biometric information, and we do not use it to train AI tools. Our providers’ handling of your information is also governed by their own privacy notices, which you will be shown before verification begins.

If you do not complete a required verification, your access to certain opportunities or to payments may be limited. If verification fails and you believe it was in error, you can contact our support team to ask for a manual review, and we may ask you to verify again. Our team also manually reviews verification results flagged as suspicious.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

We and our service providers use cookies and similar technologies, such as local storage, device signals, and pixels and tracked links in our emails. We use them for these purposes:

• Strictly necessary. To keep you signed in, run our online shop, and protect our website and Services from bots, fraud and fake accounts. Some of these are set by our website host and our fraud-prevention providers.
• Analytics. To understand how visitors use our website and Services. We use Google Analytics, which Google processes under its own privacy policy. You can opt out with Google’s browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
• Visit attribution. To record how you arrived at our website, such as the referring site or campaign.
• Support and third-party content. Our support chat (Zendesk) and a reviews badge (G2, provided by Elfsight) load from those providers. When they load, those providers may receive your IP address and browser information and set their own cookies.
• Email. Our emails may contain pixels and tracked links that tell us whether an email was opened and which links were clicked.

We do not use advertising cookies.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. If you block cookies, some features may not work.

We do not respond to Do Not Track signals, because no common standard exists for them.

Our website links to our pages on LinkedIn, Facebook and X (Twitter). These are plain links: the social networks receive information about you only if you follow them.

8. Communications from Maven

Invitations and service messages. We send invitations to interviews, surveys and other opportunities, as well as account, scheduling, payment and security messages. You can change or turn off these messages in your communication preferences. If you opt out of a type of opportunity, such as interviews or surveys, you will no longer appear in searches for it or receive invitations to it. We may still send messages that are legally required or needed to keep your account secure, such as password resets and notices of material changes to this policy.

Newsletters and news. We may send newsletters and updates about our services. Each one has an unsubscribe link, and you can also manage preferences in your account.

Referrals. Through our Invite & Earn program, you can invite contacts to join Maven, either by entering their details or by importing contacts from your email address book and choosing whom to invite. We use an invitee’s name and email only to send the invitation and up to 2 reminders, and to track the referral. Invitations may show that you sent them. You should only refer people who would expect to hear from Maven. Invitees can unsubscribe through any invitation or by emailing privacy@maven.co. If you import contacts but do not invite them, we keep them in your account but do not use or contact them. You can delete imported contacts at any time.

9. How long we keep information

How long we keep an Expert’s information depends on how far they took part in Maven. When you ask us to delete your information, we remove your profile from the Maven platform and delete information we no longer need. We keep a restricted archive of records we need to comply with the law and to establish or defend legal claims, such as how you were introduced to and selected for engagements, your screening answers and attestations, and payment and tax records. We keep these for the periods below, measured from your last activity on Maven, use them only for those purposes, and then delete them.

Expert activity	Retention period	If you ask us to delete
Never invited to, applied for, or referred to a project	None	We delete all of your information
Referred someone to a project or earned referral fees, but never invited or applied	2 years	We delete all but the restricted archive
Invited to or applied for a project, but never took part	3 years	We delete all but the restricted archive
Earned fees (non-US person)	7 years	We delete all but the restricted archive
Earned fees, never paid $600 or more in a calendar year (US person)	7 years	We delete all but the restricted archive
Earned fees, paid $600 or more in at least one calendar year (US person)	8 years	We delete all but the restricted archive

Other information	Retention
Interview recordings, transcripts and AI summaries	Audio and video recordings: 7 years after the interview, then deleted. Transcripts and summaries: kept indefinitely, with identifying details removed 7 years after the interview (kept identifiable until then for legal and compliance purposes) (see Section 5)
Client contact and billing records	7 years from the Client’s most recent project
Marketing preferences	Until you opt out; we keep a suppression record so we don’t contact you again
Website log data	Our platform (app.maven.co): up to 2 years, then deleted automatically. Our public websites (www.maven.co and www.mavenx.ai): 14 months. Google Analytics visitor data (all sites): 14 months

10. How we protect information

We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards suited to the information we hold. These include encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest, access controls limited to authorized staff, and security commitments from our service providers. Bank, wire and PayPal details are held by our payment providers; Maven does not keep them. We keep secure copies of tax information, such as Social Security or Employer Identification Numbers, to meet IRS Form 1099 reporting requirements. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. International transfers and the Data Privacy Framework

Maven is based in the United States, and we process and store information there. When we receive personal information from the Designated Countries, we rely on the Data Privacy Framework described below. Where needed, we also rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

Maven Research, Inc. complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Maven Research, Inc. has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union and the United Kingdom in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. Maven Research, Inc. has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

Maven submits to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with regard to our self-certification and implementation of the DPF Principles. In accordance with the EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, Maven remains liable in cases of onward transfers to third parties and complies with the Notice and Choice Principles for all personal data disclosed or transferred to a third party. Maven remains responsible under the DPF Principles if a third party that processes personal data on our behalf does so in a way that is inconsistent with the Principles, unless we prove we are not responsible for the event that caused the damage. Maven may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

DPF complaints. Individuals in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland with inquiries or complaints regarding our handling of personal data received in reliance on the DPF should first contact Maven at privacy@maven.co or at the address in Section 17. We will respond within 45 days.

In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, Maven Research, Inc. commits to cooperate and comply respectively with the advice of the panel established by the EU data protection authorities (DPAs) and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) with regard to unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If your complaint is not resolved, you may contact:

• EU: the panel established by the EU Data Protection Authorities, https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en
• UK: the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), https://ico.org.uk/
• Switzerland: the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home/the-fdpic/contact.html

Under certain conditions, individuals in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland may invoke binding arbitration, at no cost to the individual, for complaints regarding DPF compliance not resolved by any of the other DPF mechanisms, as described in Annex I of the DPF Principles.

12. Your rights and choices

Everyone. You can review and update most account information by logging in to your Maven profile. You can opt out of any type of opportunity, such as interviews or surveys, at any time. If you opt out of a type, you will no longer appear in searches for it or receive invitations to it. You can separately close your account (Section 14). You can also ask us to tell you whether we hold your personal information, to give you a copy, or to correct or delete it, by emailing privacy@maven.co. If we keep some of your information in our restricted archive for legal, tax or compliance reasons (Section 9), we will tell you what we kept and why. Deleting your information with us does not delete copies a Client has already received (see Section 4). Recordings, transcripts and summaries are kept and used for Maven’s own purposes, as described in Sections 5 and 9, and we remove directly identifying details after 7 years. Because Experts are paid for interviews on this basis, we generally cannot delete this content on request. Where the law gives you a right to request deletion, we will consider it under that law.

Designated Countries. You also have the right to:

• access, correct or delete your personal information;
• restrict or object to processing, including processing based on legitimate interests;
• receive your information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent; and
• complain to your local data protection authority.

Under the DPF Choice Principle, individuals in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland may opt out of having their personal information disclosed to a third party (other than service providers acting on our behalf), or used for a purpose materially different from the purposes for which it was originally collected or later authorized. To exercise this choice, email privacy@maven.co.

U.S. state residents. Some U.S. states give residents rights to access, correct, delete and get a copy of their personal information, and to opt out of its sale, targeted advertising or certain profiling. We do not use personal information for targeted advertising. We do not sell personal information. Our use of de-identified content in AI tools is described in Section 5. We honor access, correction and deletion requests from any U.S. resident, whether or not the law requires it. You may use an authorized agent, and you will not be treated differently for using your rights. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision.

How we respond. We verify your identity before acting on a request, and we respond within 30 days (Designated Countries) or 45 days (U.S. states). In either case we may extend the deadline where the law allows.

13. EU and UK representatives

Maven has no establishment in the EU or UK.

EU/EEA Data Protection Representative

Where required by applicable data protection law, Maven Research Inc. has appointed DilicheckRep (https://www.dilicheckrep.com/), operated by Dilicheck, S.L., as its EU/EEA Data Protection Representative under Article 27 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

DilicheckRep acts as our designated GDPR Representative for the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), and serves as a point of contact for individuals and competent data protection supervisory authorities in relation to our processing of personal data.

If you are located in the EU/EEA, you may contact DilicheckRep regarding our processing of your personal data, the exercise of your data protection rights, or other GDPR-related enquiries through the following channel:

Online: https://www.dilicheckrep.com/data-request/

When contacting DilicheckRep, please identify Maven Research Inc. so that your request can be directed appropriately.

UK Data Protection Representative

Where required by applicable data protection law, Maven Research Inc., has appointed DilicheckRep (https://www.dilicheckrep.com/), operated by Dilicheck, S.L., to provide UK Data Protection Representation services under Article 27 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

For the purposes of UK GDPR representation, Oyster Legal Management Ltd, a company established in the United Kingdom, acts as the UK-based legal representative on behalf of Dilicheck, S.L., in accordance with the applicable representation arrangements.

Through this arrangement, DilicheckRep provides a designated point of contact in the United Kingdom for individuals and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in relation to our processing of personal data under the UK GDPR.

If you are located in the United Kingdom, you may contact our UK Data Protection Representative regarding the processing of your personal data, the exercise of your data protection rights, or other UK GDPR-related enquiries through the following channel:

Online: https://www.dilicheckrep.com/data-request/

UK Representative: Oyster Legal Management Ltd

14. Closing your account

You can close your account at any time from your account settings or by emailing privacy@maven.co. Closing your account does not delete your profile. To delete your profile, email privacy@maven.co. We will remove it from the Maven platform and keep only the restricted archive described in Section 9.

15. Children

The Services are not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we learn that we have, we will delete it.

16. Changes to this policy

We will post any changes on this page and update the “Last updated” date. For material changes, we will notify you by email or through the Services before they take effect. If you do not agree with a change, you may close your account.

17. Contact us

Maven Research, Inc.
Attn: Privacy / Data Privacy Framework Compliance
155 Fleet Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801, USA
privacy@maven.co

Data Protection Officer: Mark Platosh, privacy@maven.co