Who we are
Gardar is a Nordic venture capital fund established in Norway, investing in early-stage defence technology companies. For the personal data described in this notice, Gardar is the data controller — meaning we decide why and how it is used, and we are answerable for it.
You can reach us about anything on this page at contact@gardar.vc.
This notice covers the contact form on this site and the correspondence that follows from it. It is written to meet the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which applies to us as a Nordic-based controller and to visitors in the EEA and the United Kingdom.
This form is not a secure channel
We want to be direct about this before you write anything, because the sector we work in makes it matter.
Please read before sending
Messages sent through the contact form are stored by our forms provider and forwarded to us as ordinary, unencrypted email. Email is not a confidential medium: it passes through servers we do not control, and copies can persist on them.
So please do not use this form for classified material, export-controlled technical data, unreleased specifications, operational detail, or anything else you would not want handled as ordinary correspondence.
Tell us who you are and enough about what you are building for us to start a conversation. If it needs to go further than that, we will agree a secure channel with you first.
This is a limit of the medium, not a reflection of how seriously we take your material. Once we are talking, we can arrange something appropriate to what you need to share.
What we collect
From the contact form:
- Your name — so we know who we are speaking to.
- Your email address — so we can reply.
- Your organisation — optional; it helps us place the enquiry.
- Your message — whatever you choose to tell us.
Recorded automatically alongside each submission by our forms provider:
- Your IP address and browser user-agent string — used to attribute the submission and to screen it for spam.
We do not ask for special category data — health, political opinions, religious beliefs, biometric or similar sensitive information — and we ask that you do not include any in your message.
Why we process it, and our lawful basis
We use what you send to read your message, reply to it, and — where it concerns an investment — to assess and follow up on the opportunity. We keep a record of the correspondence so we can pick up the thread later.
Lawful basis
We rely on legitimate interests, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR: our interest in operating the fund, evaluating investment opportunities, and responding to people who choose to contact us.
We consider that a fair basis here because you initiated the contact, because we use what you send only for the purpose you sent it for, and because being read and answered by a fund is precisely what someone writing to a fund expects. You can object to this processing at any time — see Your rights.
What we do not do
We do not use your details for marketing. We do not sell them, and we do not share them for advertising. No decision about you is made by automated means, and we do not profile you.
Who else handles your message
- Netlify — hosts this site and operates the contact form. Submissions are held in Netlify's form storage and are processed in the United States. Netlify acts as our processor under the data processing agreement incorporated into its terms of service.
- Akismet — Netlify screens every submission for spam using Akismet. The content of the submission and the technical data recorded with it are sent to Akismet for that check.
- Our email provider — Netlify forwards each verified submission to our contact address, after which it sits in our mailbox like any other correspondence.
Because these providers are based in the United States, your information is transferred outside the EEA. Those transfers rely on the data protection terms in our agreements with them.
We may also share your message with our professional advisers where an enquiry requires it, and with authorities where the law requires it. Nobody else sees it.
How long we keep it
We keep an enquiry for as long as we are dealing with it. Where an enquiry does not lead to an ongoing relationship, we delete the submission and the correspondence around it within 24 months.
Where it does lead to a relationship, we keep it for as long as that relationship lasts, and afterwards for any period we are required to retain records under Norwegian law.
Your rights
Under GDPR you can ask us to:
- Give you a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Correct it if it is wrong or incomplete.
- Delete it.
- Restrict how we use it while a question about it is resolved.
- Stop using it. Because we rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object. If you do, we will stop unless we can demonstrate compelling grounds that override your interests, rights and freedoms.
To exercise any of these, email contact@gardar.vc. We will respond within one month. There is no charge.
Complaints
If you think we have handled your personal data badly, please tell us first at contact@gardar.vc so we have the chance to put it right.
You also have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority. In Norway that is Datatilsynet (datatilsynet.no). You may instead complain to the authority in the EEA country where you live or work.
Changes to this notice
If we change how we handle enquiries, we will update this page and the date at the top of it.