Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

PayPaw™ (the “Service”) is operated by Advanced Companions Inc., a Delaware corporation with offices at 2140 South DuPont Hwy, Camden, DE 19934 (“Advanced Companions,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, share, and protect personal information when you use the Service.

If you have questions, contact privacy@paypaw.app or write to us at the address above.

2. Information we collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account information — name, email address, mobile phone number, account role (Specialist or Pet Parent), profile photo, and authentication credentials managed by our identity provider.
• Specialist business information — business name, address, service offerings, rate cards, schedule availability, and identity / tax data required to receive payouts (collected and held by Stripe).
• Pet Parent payment information — saved payment methods, billing address, and payment history. Card numbers and bank details are collected by Stripe and never stored on PayPaw servers; PayPaw stores only payment-method tokens and metadata necessary to display saved methods (e.g., last 4 digits, brand).
• Pet profiles — your pet’s name, species, breed, age, weight, feeding instructions, medications, behavioral notes, vaccination records, vet contact, and any other care information you choose to share.
• Reservation and service history — appointment times, addresses, service notes, photos uploaded during care, and check-in / check-out timestamps.
• Communications — messages between Specialists and Pet Parents sent through PayPaw, and your interactions with our AI assistant (Lulu).
• Device and usage data — IP address, browser type, device identifiers, pages visited, features used, and timestamps. Some of this is collected automatically by analytics tools (see Section 4).
• Location — addresses you enter for reservations. We do not collect continuous GPS location from your device.

3. How we use information

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate the Service — create accounts, deliver care, process payments and payouts, send transactional notifications.
• Provide the AI assistant features — including recalling care history you authorize the assistant to surface.
• Send service updates, payment reminders, and (with your consent) marketing communications.
• Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
• Comply with legal obligations (e.g., tax reporting, court orders, requests from law enforcement where legally required).
• Improve the Service through aggregated, de-identified analytics.

We do not sell personal information. We do not use your data to train third-party AI models outside the scope of operating the Service for you.

4. Third-party service providers

We rely on the following third parties to deliver the Service. Each operates under its own privacy policy and only receives the data needed to perform its function.

We may add or replace service providers from time to time. Material changes affecting categories of data handled or jurisdictions of processing will be reflected in this policy.

5. SMS communications and TCPA notice

PayPaw sends SMS messages for payment reminders, reservation confirmations, and other transactional notifications. SMS is opt-in. By providing a mobile number and confirming the opt-in, you consent to receive recurring automated SMS messages from PayPaw at that number. Message frequency varies based on your account activity. Message and data rates may apply from your carrier.

You may opt out at any time by replying STOP to any PayPaw SMS, or by changing your notification preferences in your account settings. Reply HELP for assistance, or contact privacy@paypaw.app.

Consent to receive SMS is not a condition of purchasing any PayPaw product or service. See our Terms of Service for additional details.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

PayPaw uses cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, and measure how the Service is used. The categories are:

• Strictly necessary — required for authentication and core functionality. Cannot be disabled.
• Analytics — PostHog product analytics and session replay. Session replay automatically masks input fields and other sensitive content; we do not record card numbers, passwords, or other secrets.
• Error monitoring — Sentry trace identifiers attached to requests for debugging.

You may control cookies through your browser settings; disabling strictly necessary cookies will prevent you from using the Service.

7. Data retention

We retain personal information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. After account closure, we retain certain records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes:

• Financial records (invoices, payments, payouts) — retained for at least seven (7) years to comply with U.S. tax recordkeeping requirements.
• Care history (reservations, pet profiles, communications) — retained in de-identified form for safety-incident lookback and product improvement.
• Security logs — retained for up to twelve (12) months for fraud and abuse detection.

When retention is no longer required, we delete or de-identify the data. You may request earlier deletion of data that is not subject to a legal hold by contacting privacy@paypaw.app.

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate information.
• Delete your data (subject to retention obligations described in Section 7).
• Port a copy of your data in a machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent for processing that relies on consent.
• Object to or restrict certain processing.
• Lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

California residents: the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and its amendments grant additional rights, including the right to know what categories of personal information are collected and disclosed, the right to delete, the right to correct, and the right to opt out of “sale” or “sharing.” PayPaw does not sell personal information.

EU / UK / EEA residents: under the GDPR / UK GDPR, you have the rights listed above and may also designate an authorized agent. Our lawful bases for processing are contract performance (operating your account), legitimate interests (fraud detection, product improvement), legal obligation (tax recordkeeping), and consent (marketing communications). PayPaw is established in the United States; by using the Service from outside the U.S. you understand that your data is transferred to and processed in the U.S.

To exercise any of these rights, contact privacy@paypaw.app. We will verify your identity before fulfilling requests.

9. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Pet profiles are about pets, not children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact privacy@paypaw.app and we will delete the data.

10. Security

We use technical and organizational safeguards to protect personal information, including encryption in transit (TLS), encryption at rest, access controls, secret scanning, automated security testing in our deployment pipeline, and an error-monitoring stack that alerts our team to anomalies. No system is perfectly secure; if we become aware of a breach affecting your data, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

11. International transfers

Our infrastructure providers may process data in jurisdictions other than your own. Where required, we rely on contractual safeguards (such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses) to protect cross-border transfers.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the current version. Material changes will be communicated by email or in-product notice at least 30 days before they take effect.

13. Contact

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact privacy@paypaw.app or write to Advanced Companions Inc., Privacy Officer, 2140 South DuPont Hwy, Camden, DE 19934.