Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

SearchWare is an acquisition platform for search fund operators and small private-equity buyers. It is a product of SearchOS LLC, a California limited liability company (“SearchOS LLC”, “we”, “us”), which is responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

This policy covers the SearchWare website at searchware.app, the SearchWare application and the Diligence Portal (together, the “Service”). Questions and requests go to [email protected].

2. Information we collect

Account information. When you sign in with Google we receive your name, email address and profile picture, and we create your user account and workspace.
Content you add. Deals, contacts, notes, tasks, uploaded documents (such as CIMs and financial statements), emails you forward to your workspace’s intake address, search criteria, underwriting inputs, offers and other material you or your teammates create in the Service.
Google user data, only if you connect Gmail or Google Calendar, as described in Google user data below.
Connected services you choose to add: bank and card transactions through Plaid for the Expenses module, and meeting notes from a meeting recorder you connect.
Diligence Portal participants. When a workspace invites a seller, broker or adviser to a portal, we process the participant’s name, email address, the documents and messages they exchange, and their portal activity.
Billing information. Your plan and subscription status, and identifiers for your customer record at Stripe. Payment card details are collected and stored by Stripe, not by us.
Technical information. Application logs and error reports needed to run, secure and debug the Service, and records of AI usage (the feature, model, token counts and cost, but not the prompt or response text).

3. Google user data

SearchWare asks Google for access in separate steps, and only for the features you turn on. Each scope and what we do with it:

Sign-in: openid, email and profile

Signing in asks only for your basic profile: your name, email address and profile picture. We use them to create and identify your account, show who you are to your teammates, and send you service email. Sign-in does not give SearchWare access to Gmail, Calendar or Drive.

Gmail: `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify`

Requested only when you click Connect Gmail in Settings. With it, SearchWare:

Reads and syncs deal- and contact-related email when you ask it to: syncing a deal runs a search you can see and edit, and syncing a contact searches for messages with that contact’s email address. We store the matching messages’ subject, sender, recipients, date, snippet and text body on that deal or contact so your team can see the correspondence in context. We do not download attachments, and nothing syncs in the background.
Searches and reads email at your request through the SearchWare assistant, for example to find a thread with a broker or summarize recent messages about a deal.
Creates drafts in your Gmail account, such as replies, forwards and outreach you ask SearchWare to prepare. Drafts stay in your Gmail Drafts folder for you to review.
Sends email on your behalf only when you initiate it: the assistant sends a draft only after you approve that specific message.
Lists your Gmail labels only to check that the connection works. SearchWare does not archive, delete or relabel your messages.

Google Calendar: `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar`

Requested only when you click Connect Google Calendar in Settings. With it, SearchWare:

Imports events from the calendars you choose, from a week back to a month ahead, and keeps only the events that match one of your open deals, storing the event title, time and attendee names as a meeting on that deal. Event descriptions are not stored.
Reads events at your request through the assistant, for example to find your next meeting with a seller.
Adds events you create, such as when you use Add to Calendar on a meeting or approve an event the assistant proposes.

How we use Google user data

We use Google user data only to provide and improve the user-facing features described above, inside SearchWare, for you and the members of your workspace. Some of those features use AI: when you use the assistant or deal chat, or ask a question about a deal, the relevant email or calendar content is sent to a large-language-model provider to produce the answer you asked for, and synced deal emails can be indexed so deal chat can find them (see AI processing). We do not use Google user data for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not use it to develop, improve or train generalized AI or machine-learning models.

How we store and protect it

Google OAuth tokens and synced data are stored in our production database, which only the Service and authorized personnel can access. Tokens are never shown in the app, and our error reporting removes them. Every record is scoped to your workspace, so other customers cannot see it.

How we share it

We do not transfer Google user data to anyone except: the service providers listed in How we share information that host and process it for us to provide the Service (including AI model providers); the other members of your workspace, who can see the email and meetings synced to shared deals and contacts; as necessary for security, to investigate abuse, or to comply with applicable law; or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, with notice to you. No person at SearchOS LLC reads your Google user data unless you give us permission (for example, to help with a support request), it is necessary for security purposes such as investigating abuse, it is necessary to comply with applicable law, or the data has been aggregated and anonymized for internal operations.

4. Google API Services: Limited Use

SearchWare’s use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

In particular, we:

use Google user data only to provide or improve user-facing features that are prominent in SearchWare’s interface;
transfer it to others only as necessary to provide or improve those features, for security purposes, to comply with applicable law, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets;
never use or transfer it to serve advertisements, including retargeting, personalized or interest-based ads;
never sell it, or use it to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes;
do not allow humans to read it, except with your affirmative agreement for specific messages, for security purposes such as investigating abuse, to comply with applicable law, or for internal operations once it has been aggregated and anonymized;
never use it, or transfer it, to develop, improve or train generalized or non-personalized AI or machine-learning models.

5. How we use information

To provide the Service: screen and organize deals, analyze documents, run underwriting, prepare drafts, run the Diligence Portal and the other features you use.
To operate and secure it: authenticate users, enforce workspace roles, prevent abuse, debug errors and keep backups.
To communicate with you: service email such as invitations, notifications, digests and billing notices.
To bill for subscriptions and comply with legal obligations.

6. AI processing

Many SearchWare features use large-language models: CIM screening, deal memos, extraction, the assistant, deal chat, drafting, expense categorization and meeting linking. To produce a result, the content the feature needs (for example a document, a deal’s notes and emails, or your question) is sent to a model provider, which returns the output to us.

Platform AI. By default, requests go through the Vercel AI Gateway to large-language-model providers such as Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini) and OpenAI (GPT).
Your own key. If your workspace adds its own Anthropic, OpenAI or Google API key, requests for your workspace go directly to that provider under your account and its terms. A workspace with its own key can also index its content for search using that provider’s embedding models.

We use these providers only to generate the results you request. We do not use your content, including Google user data, to train generalized AI models. We keep a record of each AI request’s feature, model, token counts and cost, without the prompt or response text; results you save (such as a memo, a draft or an assistant conversation) are stored in your workspace.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share it only:

Within your workspace, with the members your workspace invites, according to their roles, and with Diligence Portal participants only for the documents and requests your workspace chooses to share.
With service providers that process it on our behalf: Vercel (hosting, file storage and the AI Gateway), Neon (database), large-language-model providers (see AI processing), Resend (sending and receiving email), Sentry (error monitoring), Stripe (payments), Plaid (bank connections) and Google (sign-in, Gmail and Calendar).
With services you connect, such as a meeting recorder, to the extent needed to run that integration.
For legal reasons: to comply with law or legal process, to protect the rights, safety and security of our users, the public or SearchOS LLC, or in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets.

8. Bank data (Plaid) and payments (Stripe)

Plaid. If your workspace connects a bank or card account for the Expenses module, we use Plaid to retrieve account details (name, type and the last digits of the account number) and transactions (amount, date, merchant, category and location) for up to the previous year. We use them only to track and categorize your search expenses. We do not receive your bank login credentials, and we request only Plaid’s Transactions product. The Plaid access token is encrypted at rest. Transactions marked personal have their details removed after 30 days. When you disconnect an account in Settings, we remove the connection at Plaid; the transactions and expenses already imported stay in your workspace until you delete them or ask us to. Plaid’s handling of your data is described in the Plaid End User Privacy Policy.

Stripe. Subscriptions are paid through Stripe Checkout and managed in Stripe’s billing portal. Stripe collects and stores your payment card details; SearchWare never receives or stores your full card number. We keep only your Stripe customer and subscription identifiers and your subscription status. See the Stripe Privacy Policy.

9. Retention and deletion

We keep your workspace content, including synced email and imported meetings, for as long as your workspace exists or until you delete it. Deleting a contact in SearchWare also deletes the email synced to it. Some data has its own shorter retention: application logs are deleted after 30 days, background-job records after 14 to 30 days, and personal-transaction details from Plaid after 30 days.

Disconnecting Google

You can remove SearchWare’s access to your Google account at any time from your Google Account’s Third-party apps & services page. Once access is removed, Gmail and Calendar features stop working and SearchWare clears the stored grant the next time it tries to use it; Settings › Connected accounts then shows Gmail and Google Calendar as not connected. Email and meetings already synced stay on their deals and contacts until you delete them or ask us to. To have your stored Google tokens and synced Google data deleted, email [email protected].

Deleting your account or workspace

To delete your account, your workspace, or specific data, email [email protected] from the address you sign in with. We will verify the request and delete the data, including Google user data, within 30 days, except where we must keep something to comply with law, resolve disputes or enforce our agreements. Workspace administrators can also remove members from Settings › Team, which deletes that member’s user account. Data may remain in backups for a limited period before it is overwritten.

10. Cookies and similar technologies

SearchWare uses only cookies and browser storage that the Service needs to work. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party analytics trackers.

Sign-in: a session cookie that keeps you signed in, a short-lived cookie that protects the Google connection flow, and a session cookie for Diligence Portal participants.
Preferences: your time zone, layout choices such as whether the sidebar is collapsed, dismissed notices, and your light or dark theme (kept in your browser’s local storage).
Error monitoring: Sentry receives reports of errors in the app so we can fix them. Before a report leaves our code, cookies, request bodies, email addresses, IP addresses and tokens are removed.

11. Security

We protect information with access controls that keep each workspace’s data separate, role-based permissions inside each workspace, encryption in transit (HTTPS), private file storage, and encryption at rest for the credentials we hold for Plaid, meeting recorders and your own AI provider keys. No system is perfectly secure; if you believe your account has been compromised, contact us at [email protected].

12. Where we process data

SearchWare is operated from the United States. We and our service providers may process and store your information in the United States and other countries whose data-protection laws may differ from those of your country. By using the Service you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

13. Children

The Service is for business use and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Your choices and rights

You can view and update much of your information directly in SearchWare, remove SearchWare’s access to Google, and disconnect Plaid and other integrations as described above. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a copy of your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. To make a request, email [email protected]. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.

California residents. Subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act and its exceptions, you may request to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected, the sources, the purposes and the categories of third parties we share it with; to delete or correct it; and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in the CCPA. You may use an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.

If SearchWare holds your information because a workspace added it (for example, as a contact or a portal participant), we process it on that workspace’s behalf, and we may refer your request to the workspace.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will change the “Last updated” date above and, for material changes, notify you by email or in the Service before they take effect.

16. Contact us

SearchOS LLC, operator of SearchWare: [email protected].