Privacy Policy
1. About LaunchVerse
LaunchVerse is an AI-powered social launchpad where young talent engages with real-world challenges designed by universities, organisations, and industry experts—and converts that work into verifiable, real-world credentials that unlock life-changing opportunities. LaunchVerse is built as a non-profit to ensure this infrastructure remains open, equitable, and aligned with long-term societal benefit.
LaunchVerse is operated by Real World Learning Foundation, a non-profit entity registered at 5309 Whispering Breeze Court, Glen Allen, VA 23059-3420, United States. For the purposes of applicable data protection laws, we are the Data Fiduciary responsible for processing your personal data.
2. Introduction
This Privacy Policy governs the collection, use, storage, processing, and disclosure of personal data through the LaunchVerse mobile application, website, and all associated services (collectively, "the Platform" or "LaunchVerse").
By using LaunchVerse, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to this Privacy Policy. If you are a parent or legal guardian providing consent for your child's use of the Platform, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy on their behalf. If you do not agree, please refrain from using LaunchVerse.
This Privacy Policy should be read together with our Terms of Use and Child Safety Policy, which collectively define the terms and conditions for the usage of our Platform.
We are committed to protecting the privacy and safety of all our users, especially children. This Policy has been designed to comply with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP Act") and the DPDP Rules, 2025, as well as global best practices including COPPA (USA) and GDPR (EU/EEA), to ensure we are prepared for international expansion.
3. Definitions
- •Student: Any individual in grades 8–12 (typically aged 13–18) who has registered on the LaunchVerse Platform through a valid school code or Aadhaar-based identity verification.
- •School Admin: A school coordinator, teacher, or principal who manages their school's presence on LaunchVerse and is responsible for approving student accounts within their institution.
- •Parent/Guardian: The parent or lawful guardian of a Student, whose verifiable consent is required for the Student's use of the Platform.
- •Superpower Framework: LaunchVerse's proprietary dynamic skills-and-context graph that captures a Student's demonstrated skills, mindsets, and progression based on their challenge work.
- •AI Evaluator: LaunchVerse's AI-enabled system that analyses student submissions to generate structured feedback and evidence of skills, mindsets, and progression.
- •Personal Data: Any data about an individual who is identifiable by or in relation to such data, as defined under the DPDP Act, 2023.
- •Data Fiduciary: LaunchVerse, as the entity that determines the purpose and means of processing personal data.
- •Data Principal: The individual to whom the personal data relates—in our case, the Student, and additionally the Parent/Guardian in the context of a child's data.
- •Data Processor: Any third-party service provider that processes personal data on behalf of LaunchVerse.
4. Child Status and Age Declaration
Under the DPDP Act, 2023, a "child" is defined as any individual who has not completed 18 years of age. Since LaunchVerse is designed for students in grades 8–12, all or substantially all of our student users are children under applicable Indian law.
LaunchVerse collects date of birth information during account creation to verify age. Students self-declare their age status during onboarding by selecting "Child (under 18 years)" during the sign-up process.
We treat every student account as a child account and apply the highest standards of data protection and safety to every student user, regardless of their declared age.
5. Parental Consent
LaunchVerse operates with verifiable parental consent for all student users, in compliance with Section 9 of the DPDP Act, 2023.
How We Obtain Parental Consent
During account creation, students are required to provide a parent or guardian's email address. The following consent mechanisms are employed:
- •School Code Pathway: When a student registers using a school code, the school acts as a trusted intermediary. The school coordinator's acceptance of the student's account serves as an institutional layer of verification. A welcome and consent email is sent to the parent's email address, informing them of their child's registration and providing clear instructions on how to review, manage, or withdraw consent.
- •Aadhaar-Based Pathway: When a student registers via Aadhaar-based identity verification, OTP verification is sent to the linked mobile number. The student then provides a parent email address, and a consent notification is sent to the parent with full details of data processing and rights.
Parental Rights
Parents and guardians have the following rights at all times:
- •Review their child's personal data held by LaunchVerse
- •Request correction of inaccurate personal data
- •Request deletion of their child's account and all associated data
- •Withdraw consent for data processing at any time
- •Receive notification of any material changes to this Privacy Policy
- •Contact our Grievance Officer with any concerns
To exercise any of these rights, parents may write to us at [support@launchverse.org] or through the in-app support mechanism.
6. Data We Collect
6.1 Data Provided by Students During Registration
- •Full name
- •Email address
- •Parent/Guardian email address
- •Date of birth
- •Password (stored in encrypted form)
- •Grade/Class
- •School affiliation (via school code)
6.2 Additional Data for Aadhaar-Based Registration
- •Aadhaar number (used only for verification; not stored by LaunchVerse)
- •Full name, gender, date of birth, address, and mobile number (received from Aadhaar verification)
Note: LaunchVerse does not store Aadhaar numbers. We use Aadhaar-based verification solely through authorised intermediaries (such as DigiLocker via middleware providers) for one-time identity confirmation. Only the verified identity attributes (name, DOB, gender) are retained.
6.3 Profile Data
- •Profile picture (optional)
- •Bio (optional)
- •Interests and personality indicators (optional)
- •Location/City
6.4 Content and Submission Data
- •Video reel submissions
- •Submission descriptions and language tags
- •Team member associations
- •Public/private visibility preferences
- •AI-generated feedback on submissions
- •Human evaluator scores and shortlisting decisions
6.5 Engagement Data
- •Predetermined reactions on feed content
- •Comments
- •Content reporting actions (post ID, reporter ID, timestamp)
6.6 Superpower Framework Data
- •Dynamic skills graph derived from challenge participation
- •Evidence of skills, mindsets, and progression generated by the AI Evaluator
- •Badges, achievements, and recognition data
6.7 AI Companion Data
When students interact with the AI Companion, the following additional data is collected and processed:
- •Conversation Data: All messages exchanged between the student and the AI Companion within each conversation thread, including text inputs, responses, and any multimedia the student shares (such as uploaded documents or images for analysis).
- •Long-Term Memory (User Persona): The AI Companion extracts and stores factual attributes from conversations to personalise interactions over time. This includes personality traits (e.g., introvert/extrovert tendencies), learning style preferences, stated interests and hobbies, career aspirations, and Ayurvedic personality indicators (if voluntarily shared through personality exploration questions). These attributes are slowly updated as the student reveals more about themselves.
- •Short-Term Memory (Session Context): Within each conversation session, recent exchanges are retained to maintain conversational coherence. This data is session-scoped and not persisted beyond the session unless it generates a long-term memory update.
- •Nudge Response Data: The AI Companion proactively asks personality exploration, interest discovery, goal-setting, and skill-building questions (nudges). Student responses to these nudges are stored to refine their User Persona and improve the quality of recommendations.
- •Career and Skill Recommendations Log: Records of career tracks, skill-building exercises, project ideas, resources, and challenge suggestions surfaced by the AI Companion, along with whether the student engaged with them.
- •Feedback Data: If the student rates the helpfulness or personalisation quality of AI Companion responses (e.g., smiley ratings), this feedback is collected to improve the service.
All AI Companion data is linked to the student's LaunchVerse account and is subject to the same data protection, retention, and deletion policies as all other personal data on the Platform. Students and parents may request access to, correction of, or deletion of AI Companion data at any time.
6.8 Automatically Collected Data
- •Device information (device type, operating system, browser type)
- •IP address (anonymised where possible)
- •App usage patterns (pages visited, time spent, features used)
- •Crash logs and performance data
We do not collect persistent location tracking data, biometric data (other than for Aadhaar verification via authorised channels), or any data beyond what is necessary to provide our services.
7. Purpose of Data Collection
We collect and process personal data only for the following specific, lawful purposes:
- •To create and maintain student and school accounts on the Platform
- •To verify the identity and age of students
- •To obtain and record verifiable parental consent
- •To enable participation in hunts
- •To facilitate video reel submissions and manage challenge progression
- •To power the AI Evaluator, which analyses student work to generate structured feedback on skills, mindsets, and progression
- •To build and maintain the Superpower Framework—each student's dynamic skills-and-context graph
- •To display student work on the global feed (only for submissions marked as public)
- •To issue badges, achievements, and recognition for shortlisted and winning submissions
- •To enable school administrators to manage their school's student cohort and track participation
- •To send notifications about submissions, deadlines, results, and platform updates
- •To provide AI Assistant services to school administrators for participation insights
- •To moderate content and ensure platform safety through AI and human review
- •To improve the Platform's features, performance, and user experience
- •To comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements
- •To power the AI Companion's personalised guidance, including personality exploration, career discovery, skill-building recommendations, and challenge participation nudges, using conversation memory and retrieval-augmented generation
8. What We Do NOT Do With Your Data
LaunchVerse is committed to the following absolute prohibitions, in compliance with the DPDP Act, 2023:
- •We do NOT engage in targeted advertising of any kind directed at students
- •We do NOT track or conduct behavioural monitoring of students
- •We do NOT profile students for any purpose that may cause harm
- •We do NOT sell, rent, lease, or trade personal data to any third party for any purpose whatsoever
- •We do NOT display advertisements on the Platform
- •We do NOT share student data with advertisers, data brokers, or marketing agencies
- •We do NOT allow third-party data collection or tracking on the Platform
- •We do NOT use student data for any commercial purpose beyond providing the LaunchVerse service
- •We do NOT use personal data of students for training AI models outside of the Platform's core evaluation and feedback services
- •We do NOT use AI Companion conversation data or memory to build advertising profiles, sell insights, or share with any third party
As a non-profit organisation, LaunchVerse's sole purpose in collecting data is to serve and empower young learners. We have no financial incentive to monetise user data.
9. AI Evaluation and Automated Processing
LaunchVerse uses artificial intelligence in the following ways:
9.1 AI Work Evaluator
Our AI-enabled work evaluator analyses student video reel submissions to generate structured evidence of skills, mindsets, and progression. This analysis is used to provide feedback to students, build their Superpower Framework profile, and assist human evaluators in the shortlisting process.
The AI Evaluator does not make final decisions on shortlisting or winner selection—these decisions always involve human judgment. AI-generated feedback is clearly labelled as such on the Platform.
9.2 Content Moderation
We use AI-based moderation systems to review text and visual content (profile information, submissions) for safety and compliance with our Community Guidelines. Content flagged by AI is escalated to human moderators for review before any action is taken.
10. AI Companion – Data Processing and Safeguards
The AI Companion is a core feature of LaunchVerse designed to provide personalised, conversational guidance to students. Given the depth of personal information the AI Companion processes, this section provides detailed transparency on how it operates.
10.1 How the AI Companion Uses Data
The AI Companion uses a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture. Before generating each response, the system:
- •Retrieves relevant facts from the student's long-term memory (User Persona) to ground the response in the student's known personality, interests, and goals
- •Retrieves relevant content from LaunchVerse's knowledge base (challenge details, career track information, skill-building resources, evaluation criteria) to provide accurate, contextual guidance
- •Uses the student's recent conversation history (short-term memory) to maintain coherence within the current session
This architecture ensures that every response is personalised to who the student is and what they have shared—not generic.
10.2 Memory Management
- •What is stored: Specific factual attributes extracted from student conversations (e.g., "loves chess", "interested in robotics", "personality type: creative/reflective"). Conversation summaries and key facts, not verbatim transcripts of every message, are retained in long-term memory.
- •How it is stored: In an encrypted vector memory store linked to the student's account. Access is restricted to the AI Companion system and authorised LaunchVerse personnel.
- •Student control: Students can view a summary of what the AI Companion remembers about them. Students and parents can request correction or deletion of any stored memory at any time.
- •Deletion: When a student's account is deleted, all AI Companion data—including long-term memory, conversation history, and nudge responses—is permanently deleted in accordance with our data retention policy.
10.3 Continuous Improvement and Anonymised Data
To improve the AI Companion's effectiveness, we may periodically analyse anonymised and aggregated interaction patterns (e.g., which types of nudges receive the highest engagement, average session lengths, common career interests across cohorts). This analysis never uses personally identifiable data and is conducted solely to improve the service for all students.
If we ever use anonymised conversation data for model fine-tuning, this will only be done with explicit parental consent, and the data will be fully de-identified before any processing.
10.4 Third-Party AI Providers
The AI Companion may use third-party large language model (LLM) providers (such as OpenAI or Anthropic) to generate responses. In such cases:
- •Only the minimum necessary context is sent to the provider for response generation
- •We do not permit third-party providers to store, train on, or retain student data
- •All data transmission to third-party providers is encrypted in transit
- •We execute Data Processing Agreements with all third-party AI providers, binding them to strict data protection obligations
- •We conduct due diligence on providers to ensure compliance with our privacy and child safety standards
11. Data Sharing and Third Parties
11.1 When We Share Data
We may share limited personal data with the following categories of recipients, and only to the extent strictly necessary:
- •School Administrators: School Admins can view the names, profiles, submission status, and participation data of students affiliated with their school. School Admins cannot access students from other schools.
- •Human Evaluators: Evaluators engaged by LaunchVerse to score and shortlist submissions will have access to student submissions and associated metadata. Evaluators are bound by confidentiality agreements and data protection obligations.
- •Service Providers: We use third-party service providers for hosting, analytics, identity verification, and other infrastructure needs. These providers process data solely on our instructions and are contractually prohibited from using it for any other purpose.
- •Legal and Regulatory Authorities: We may disclose personal data if required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, including to protect the rights, safety, or property of LaunchVerse, our users, or the public.
11.2 Third-Party Service Providers
| Service Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cloud Infrastructure (AWS/GCP) | Hosting, databases, storage, and network infrastructure |
| DigiLocker/Setu | Aadhaar-based identity verification via authorised middleware |
| Email Service Provider | Transactional and notification emails |
| Analytics Provider | Anonymised usage analytics to improve the Platform |
| AI/ML Services | Powering the AI Evaluator and content moderation |
| Payment Processor (if applicable) | Processing any future payments securely |
| Push Notification Service | Delivering in-app and push notifications |
All third-party service providers are contractually bound to use data only for providing services to LaunchVerse and are prohibited from sharing, selling, or using the data for any other purpose. We conduct due diligence on all providers to ensure they meet our data protection standards.
12. Data Ownership and Control
Students
All content created and submitted by students (including video reels, descriptions, and profile information) remains the intellectual property of the student. By submitting content to LaunchVerse, students grant LaunchVerse a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, display, and distribute such content solely within the Platform and for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.
Superpower Framework Data
The Superpower Framework data (dynamic skills graph, AI-generated evidence of skills and mindsets) is co-owned. Students own the underlying work that generates this data; LaunchVerse owns the analytical framework, algorithms, and structured outputs. Students have the right to access, export, and share their Superpower Framework profile at any time.
AI Companion Data
Conversation content belongs to the student. The User Persona (extracted facts and memory) is co-owned: students own the underlying personal information, and LaunchVerse owns the analytical and memory framework. Students can access, export, correct, or delete their AI Companion data at any time.
Schools
Schools do not own student personal data. School Admins have administrative access to manage their school cohort on the Platform but cannot export, transfer, or use student data for purposes outside of LaunchVerse.
LaunchVerse
LaunchVerse owns all Platform content, algorithms, frameworks, curricula, and system-generated data (such as the AI Evaluator's scoring methodology). LaunchVerse does not claim ownership over student-created content.
13. Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or as required by applicable law.
- •Active accounts: Data is retained for the duration of the account's active period.
- •Deactivated accounts: Student accounts that have been deactivated retain their data until a deletion request is made.
- •School-unverified accounts: Accounts not accepted by a School Admin within 30 days of creation are automatically deactivated.
- •Deleted accounts: Upon account deletion, all personal data is permanently deleted within 90 days, except where retention is required by law.
- •AI Companion data: All conversation history, long-term memory, and nudge response data is deleted when the account is deleted. Students may also request deletion of AI Companion data independently without deleting their full account.
- •Backup copies: Deleted data may persist in encrypted backup copies for up to 30 days for disaster recovery purposes, but will not be accessible or used for any other purpose.
14. Data Protection and Security
We implement robust technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect personal data:
Technical Measures
- •Encryption of data at rest and in transit using industry-standard protocols (AES-256, TLS 1.2+)
- •Secure authentication mechanisms with password hashing (bcrypt or equivalent)
- •Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
- •Web application firewalls and intrusion detection systems
- •Regular automated backups with encryption
Administrative Measures
- •Role-based access controls—employees and contractors can only access data necessary for their specific role
- •Mandatory data protection and privacy training for all team members
- •Confidentiality agreements with all employees, contractors, and service providers
- •Regular review of access permissions and data handling practices
Breach Notification
In the event of a personal data breach, LaunchVerse will:
- •Notify the Data Protection Board of India without undue delay upon becoming aware of the breach
- •Notify affected students and parents/guardians without undue delay, providing details of the breach, data affected, steps taken, and remedial measures
- •Take immediate corrective action to contain the breach and prevent recurrence
- •Maintain a record of all data breaches, whether or not they are notifiable
15. Default Privacy Settings
LaunchVerse adopts a "privacy by default" approach, meaning the safest settings are enabled for all new accounts:
- •Student profiles are set to private by default (students may choose to make them public)
- •Submissions are set to private by default (students may choose to make them public)
- •Public profiles of students are not visible to anyone until the school admin has accepted the student's account
- •Flagged profiles (where content moderation has flagged concerns) cannot be made public
- •There is no direct messaging between users on the Platform
- •Comments are limited to predetermined, pre-approved options—no free-text comments are permitted
- •There are no targeted advertisements or sponsored content on the Platform
- •AI Companion conversations are private to the student and not visible to other students, school admins, or challenge providers
16. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
LaunchVerse uses minimal cookies and similar technologies solely for the following purposes:
- •Essential cookies: Required for the Platform to function (e.g., session management, authentication)
- •Analytics cookies: Used to collect anonymised, aggregated usage data to improve the Platform (e.g., page views, feature usage patterns)
We do not use cookies for advertising, behavioural tracking, or profiling. We do not allow third-party advertising cookies on the Platform.
You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of the Platform.
17. Your Rights as a Data Principal
Under the DPDP Act, 2023, students and parents/guardians have the following rights:
- •Right to Access: You may request a summary of your personal data and how it is being processed.
- •Right to Correction: You may request correction or updating of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- •Right to Erasure: You may request deletion of your personal data. Upon receiving such a request, we will delete your data within 90 days, subject to any legal retention requirements.
- •Right to Withdraw Consent: You may withdraw consent for data processing at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
- •Right to Grievance Redressal: You may raise a grievance with our Grievance Officer. We will acknowledge the grievance within 24 hours and resolve it within 90 days.
- •Right to Nominate: You may nominate another individual to exercise your rights in the event of your death or incapacity, as provided under the DPDP Act.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Grievance Officer at [support@launchverse.org] or through the in-app support mechanism.
18. International Data Considerations
LaunchVerse is currently launched in India and processes data primarily within India. If we expand to other jurisdictions, we will ensure compliance with all applicable local data protection laws, including but not limited to:
- •COPPA (USA): Children's Online Privacy Protection Act—applicable if we serve users under 13 in the United States. We will obtain verifiable parental consent and comply with all COPPA requirements.
- •GDPR / GDPR-K (EU/EEA): General Data Protection Regulation—applicable if we serve users in the European Union. We will implement Data Processing Agreements, conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments, and ensure lawful bases for processing.
- •PDPA (Singapore): Personal Data Protection Act—applicable if we serve users in Singapore.
Data transfers outside India, if any, will only be made to countries or entities that provide an adequate level of data protection, or under appropriate safeguards as required by the DPDP Act, 2023.
19. Deleting Your Account
Students and parents have the right to delete a LaunchVerse account at any time. To request account deletion:
- •Send an email to [support@launchverse.org] with the subject line "Account Deletion Request"
Upon receiving a deletion request:
- •We will verify the identity of the requester (student or parent)
- •We will send a confirmation email before proceeding with deletion
- •All personal data, profile information, and submission content will be permanently deleted within 90 days
- •Data may persist in encrypted backups for up to 30 additional days, but will not be accessible
- •Public submissions that have been featured on the feed will be removed within 48 hours
Students retain the right to download an export of their Superpower Framework profile and submission data before account deletion. We will provide a mechanism for this within the Platform.
20. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons.
If we make material changes that affect your rights or how your personal data is processed, we will:
- •Notify you via email (to the registered student email and parent email) at least 15 days before the changes take effect
- •Display a prominent notice within the Platform
- •Clearly describe what has changed and how it affects you
Your continued use of LaunchVerse after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the changes, you may delete your account.
21. Grievance Officer and Contact Information
In accordance with the DPDP Act, 2023, LaunchVerse has appointed a Grievance Officer to address all data protection queries, complaints, and requests.
Name: Pranshul Designation: Chief Operating Officer Email: pranshul@launchverse.org
The Grievance Officer will:
- •Acknowledge all complaints within 24 hours of receipt
- •Resolve all complaints within 90 days of receipt
- •Maintain records of all complaints and resolutions
If you are not satisfied with the resolution provided by the Grievance Officer, you may escalate the matter to the Data Protection Board of India as established under the DPDP Act, 2023.
22. Governing Law
This Privacy Policy is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and all applicable rules and regulations thereunder.
Any disputes arising out of or in connection with this Privacy Policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in India.