Privacy policy

This notice explains what personal information CompaniesBoard collects, what we do with it and the choices you have. It covers our website (companiesboard.com), the app (app.companiesboard.com), our API and our MCP server, which lets AI assistants such as Claude use CompaniesBoard on your behalf.

Who we are

CompaniesBoard is a trading name of Sargent Industries Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16764137), registered office 3rd Floor, 86–90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE. Sargent Industries Ltd is the controller of the personal information described here. CompaniesBoard is run by Jacob Barker-Sargent, who handles all privacy questions.

Contact: info@jacobsargent.co.uk

What we collect and why

Your account

• Email address, used to sign you in with a one-time code, or your Google account details (email and profile picture) if you sign in with Google. We never see or store a password.
• First and last name, which you give us when you set up your account.
• Your answers to our sign-up questions: what you use today to find companies, what you use company data for and how you heard about us, including anything you type into “Other”.
• Your plan: whether you’re on Free or Pro, monthly or annual, and the status of your subscription.

What you do in CompaniesBoard

• Things you save: saved companies, lists, notes, saved searches and the companies you follow, with your alert settings.
• Your history: companies and directors you view and searches you run, so we can show your recent history and count popular companies. Company page views are also counted for visitors who aren’t signed in, without a name or email.
• Credit use: the financials and ownership charts you build, which is how we count your monthly credits.
• Alerts and notifications we send you, and whether they were delivered.
• API keys you create. We store a scrambled (hashed) version and the first few characters only, never the full key.
• Feedback and enquiries: messages you send us through the feedback form, and anything you tell us in a business enquiry (such as your name, work email, phone number, company and what you need).

Payments

Pro plans are paid through Stripe. Stripe collects your card details, billing address and, if you choose, a business name and VAT number. We never see or store your card details. We keep your Stripe customer and subscription IDs, your plan and its status so we know what you’ve paid for.

Using CompaniesBoard through Claude or another AI assistant

When you connect an AI assistant to our MCP server, you sign in to CompaniesBoard and approve the connection. The assistant then gets an access token that lets it act as you: search companies, read company information, build financials and charts with your credits, and see and change your saved companies, lists, searches, follows and notes.

• We keep an activity log of each tool the assistant uses: which tool, the details it passed (shortened), whether it worked, how long it took and which connection made the call. You can see this log on the MCP page in the app. We delete entries after 90 days.
• You can see and revoke connected assistants at any time on the MCP page.
• What you type into the assistant, and what it does with the information we return, is handled by the assistant’s provider (for Claude, that’s Anthropic) under their own privacy policy. We don’t receive your conversations.

Analytics

We use PostHog, hosted in the EU, to understand how people use CompaniesBoard: pages viewed, buttons clicked, searches and similar events, along with your browser, device and approximate location (from your IP address). Analytics run without cookies: nothing is saved to your device. In the app, once you’re signed in, these events are linked to your account ID and email address so we can see how people use the product. On companiesboard.com they aren’t linked to you. See our cookie notice.

Technical information

Our servers see your IP address with every request. We use it to keep the service running and secure (for example, limiting how many requests one address can make) and to diagnose errors.

If you’re a director or owner in our company data

CompaniesBoard shows information from the public register at Companies House. That includes personal information about company officers and people with significant control: names, month and year of birth, nationality, occupation, country of residence, correspondence addresses, appointments, and details from filed documents such as accounts. We get it from Companies House’s public API and filings; we don’t buy it from data brokers.

To show board-level statistics, we use an AI model to estimate a likely gender from a director’s first name, unless we’ve been told otherwise. This is an estimate only, is never used to make decisions about anyone, and can be corrected or removed on request.

We rely on our legitimate interest in making public company information easier to search and understand, which supports the transparency the register exists for. You can ask us to correct how we’ve presented information about you, or object to our processing, using the contact details above. If the underlying record is wrong, it also needs correcting at Companies House, and we’ll pick up the change.

Our lawful bases

UK data protection law says we need a lawful basis for each way we use personal information. Ours are:

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we’ve weighed them against your rights, and you can object at any time.

Who we share it with

We don’t sell your personal information or share it for advertising. We use these service providers to run CompaniesBoard. Each one only processes your information on our instructions.

We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or as part of selling or reorganising our business, in which case this notice would continue to apply.

Where your data is stored

Some of our providers store or process information outside the UK, including in the European Economic Area and the United States. When that happens we rely on UK adequacy regulations (including the UK–US data bridge) or the UK’s approved contract terms, so your information stays protected to UK standards.

How long we keep it

• Account information and things you save: for as long as you have an account. When you ask us to delete your account, we delete it within 30 days.
• MCP activity log: 90 days.
• Billing records: six years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as UK law requires.
• Feedback and business enquiries: up to two years after our last contact, unless they lead to a contract.
• Analytics: kept in PostHog under its retention settings, then deleted.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• ask us to correct information that’s wrong or incomplete
• ask us to delete your information
• ask us to limit how we use it
• object to how we use it, including for analytics
• ask for the information you gave us in a portable format, or for it to be sent to another organisation

To use any of these rights, including deleting your account, email info@jacobsargent.co.uk from the address on your account. We’ll reply within one month. Some rights have exceptions, and we’ll explain if one applies.

CompaniesBoard isn’t meant for children, and we don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

Security

Information is encrypted in transit, access to our systems is limited to the people who need it, and we never store passwords, card numbers or full API keys. No service is perfectly secure, so if you think your account has been misused, tell us straight away.

Complaints

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve used your information, please tell us first at info@jacobsargent.co.uk. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, helpline 0303 123 1113, ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Changes to this notice

We’ll update this notice when what we do changes, and change the date at the top. If a change materially affects you, we’ll tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect.