Terms & Conditions

1. Introduction

Welcome to the Ascend AI website located at ascend-ai.co.uk (the "Site"). These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your use of the Site and any services offered through it.

Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using our Site, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree with these Terms, please do not use our Site.

For businesses and organisations: By submitting an enquiry, you confirm that you have the authority to bind your organisation to these Terms.

Age Requirement

You must be at least 18 years old to use this Site or submit enquiries. By using our Site, you represent and warrant that you are 18 years or older.

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2. Information About Ascend AI

Ascend AI is a venture studio that builds and operates AI-centric SaaS companies. We are registered in England and Wales and operate from the United Kingdom.

What We Do

We build and operate software companies with artificial intelligence at their core, seek investment partners who bring strategic value beyond capital, form joint ventures with partners who contribute domain expertise and market access, and provide selective advisory services on AI-native methodologies.

What We Don't Do (on This Website)

Our Site is for informational purposes only. Through this Site, we do NOT sell products or services directly, process payments or financial transactions, create user accounts or authentication, or provide investment advice or financial recommendations.

Important: Any investment, partnership, or advisory engagement will be governed by separate written agreements tailored to the specific opportunity.

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3. Definitions

In these Terms, the following terms have the meanings below:

• "Ascend AI", "we", "us", "our" refers to Ascend AI, the venture studio operating this website.
• "You", "your" refers to you, whether as an individual or on behalf of an organisation.
• "Site" means the website located at ascend-ai.co.uk and all related pages.
• "Content" means all text, graphics, logos, images, software, and other materials on the Site.
• "Services" means the investment opportunities, partnership arrangements, and advisory services that may be offered by Ascend AI.
• "Enquiry" means any communication submitted through our contact form.
• "Portfolio Companies" refers to the AI-centric SaaS companies built and operated by Ascend AI.
• "Confidential Information" has the meaning set out in the Confidentiality section below.
• "User" means any person or entity accessing or using the Site.

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4. Website Use

4.1 Permitted Use

You may use our Site for browsing our content to learn about Ascend AI, submitting enquiries about investment, partnership, or advisory opportunities, and accessing our contact information for legitimate business purposes.

4.2 Prohibited Uses

You agree NOT to use the Site for any illegal purpose or in violation of any applicable laws, attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Site, our servers, or our systems, use automated systems (bots, scrapers, crawlers) to access the Site without our express written permission, interfere with or disrupt the Site or servers connected to the Site, use the Site to transmit malicious code, viruses, or any harmful software, copy, reproduce, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from our Content without permission, harvest or collect email addresses or other contact information from the Site, or impersonate Ascend AI or any person or entity.

4.3 Account Security

If you create an account or provide any information that requires authentication, you must maintain the confidentiality of your login credentials, notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your account, and accept full responsibility for all activities that occur under your account. We are not responsible for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this obligation.

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5. Intellectual Property Rights

5.1 Ownership of Content

All Content on this Site is owned by or licensed to Ascend AI and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. This includes text, graphics, logos, and images, software, code, and scripts, design, layout, and visual elements, our methodology, frameworks, and proprietary processes, and the Ascend AI name, logo, and branding.

5.2 Restrictions on Use

Without our express written permission, you may NOT copy, reproduce, or distribute our Content, modify, adapt, or create derivative works based on our Content, use our Content for commercial purposes (except as permitted by law), or remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices from our Content.

5.3 Ascend AI Methodology

Our AI-centric business methodology and frameworks are confidential trade secrets. You may not copy, imitate, or replicate our business model or methodologies, use our proprietary frameworks or processes without permission, or reverse-engineer our systems or processes.

5.4 Submissions and Ideas

If you submit ideas, suggestions, or proposals to us through our contact form, we may use your submission without any obligation of confidentiality, we are not obligated to compensate you for your submission, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free licence to use your submission, and we have the right to use similar submissions from others without liability.

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6. Services & Engagements

6.1 Information Only

The content on this Site is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute professional advice (legal, financial, technical, or otherwise), an offer to sell any services or products, an invitation to treat for contract formation, or investment advice or financial recommendations.

6.2 No Contractual Obligation

Submitting an enquiry does NOT create any contractual obligation between you and Ascend AI. We are free to accept or decline any enquiry at our sole discretion.

6.3 Separate Agreements Required

Any actual engagement with Ascend AI—including investment, joint ventures, or advisory services—will require a separate written agreement signed by both parties, detailed terms specific to that engagement, and due diligence on both sides as appropriate. These Site Terms do NOT govern such future engagements.

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7. Investment Opportunities

7.1 Nature of Investment Enquiries

Enquiries about investment opportunities do NOT constitute an offer to sell securities, do NOT guarantee any returns or outcomes, and are expressions of interest only, not offers.

7.2 No Financial Advice

Our Site does NOT provide investment advice or recommendations, financial planning advice, tax advice, or any form of regulated financial services.

7.3 Investment Risks

You acknowledge that investing in early-stage software companies carries substantial risk, you may lose all or part of your investment, past performance of portfolio companies is not indicative of future results, and you should seek independent professional advice before investing.

7.4 No FCA Regulation

Ascend AI is NOT regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and does NOT provide regulated financial services. Any investment discussions are unregulated.

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8. Advisory & Consultancy Services

8.1 Advisory Service Scope

Where Ascend AI provides advisory or consultancy services, services are educational and strategic in nature, we do not implement technology or systems on your behalf, we do not manage your business operations, and we provide guidance on AI-native methodologies, not implementation services.

8.2 Separate Engagement Required

Any advisory engagement will be governed by a separate written agreement specifying scope of services (what we will and will not provide), deliverables (what we will produce), timeline, fees and payment terms, limitation of liability, and termination provisions.

8.3 Not Implementation Services

Unless expressly agreed in writing, we do NOT write code for your systems, do NOT configure your technology infrastructure, do NOT manage your AI implementation projects, and our advisory services are strategic and educational only.

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9. Joint Ventures & Partnerships

9.1 Partnership Enquiries

Expressions of interest in joint ventures or partnerships do NOT create any binding agreement, are subject to mutual due diligence and negotiation, and require separate legal documentation if accepted.

9.2 Due Diligence

Before entering any partnership arrangement, Ascend AI will conduct background checks on potential partners, verify claims about market access or domain expertise, and assess strategic fit with our methodology. We reserve the right to decline any partnership opportunity without explanation.

9.3 Joint Venture Terms

Any joint venture will be governed by a separate agreement covering ownership structure and capital contributions, roles, responsibilities, and decision-making rights, profit sharing and loss allocation, exit provisions and buy-sell arrangements, intellectual property ownership (background IP vs. foreground IP), and non-compete and non-solicit obligations.

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10. Confidentiality

10.1 Your Obligations

During any discussions or engagements, you may have access to Confidential Information. You agree to keep all Confidential Information strictly confidential, not use Confidential Information for any purpose other than our discussions, not disclose Confidential Information to any third party without our prior written consent, and take reasonable measures to protect the security of Confidential Information.

10.2 What Constitutes Confidential Information

"Confidential Information" means all non-public information disclosed by Ascend AI, including our business methodologies, frameworks, and processes, technical information, trade secrets, or know-how, business plans, financial information, or strategies, information about our portfolio companies, and any information marked as "confidential".

10.3 Exclusions from Confidentiality

Your obligations do NOT apply to information that is or becomes public knowledge through no fault of yours, was already known to you before disclosure, is independently developed by you without reference to our Confidential Information, or is required to be disclosed by law or court order.

10.4 End of Obligations

Your confidentiality obligations survive the end of any discussions or engagements and continue indefinitely unless the information enters the public domain through no fault of yours.

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11. Limitation of Liability

11.1 Website Use

To the fullest extent permitted by law (and subject to your statutory rights as a consumer), Ascend AI shall NOT be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, loss of profits, data, business opportunities, or goodwill, interruption of business operations, or system failures or website downtime.

11.2 Content Accuracy

While we strive to ensure our Content is accurate and up-to-date, we make NO warranties about the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of the Content, we do NOT guarantee that the Site will be uninterrupted or error-free, we do NOT guarantee that any errors will be corrected, and the Site is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind.

11.3 Liability Cap

Our total aggregate liability to you for all claims arising from or related to the Site shall NOT exceed, for website use: no monetary cap (but subject to the exclusions below), and for paid services: the amount you paid for the relevant services.

11.4 Exclusions from Liability

We are NOT liable for actions taken based on information you obtained from our Site, decisions you make based on our Content, business outcomes, losses, or damages arising from your use of our Site, or third-party websites linked from our Site.

11.5 Fundamental Rights

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraudulent or deceitful conduct, or matters for which it would be unlawful to exclude or limit liability.

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12. AI-Specific Disclaimers

12.1 AI Methodology Information

Our Site describes our AI-centric business methodology. You acknowledge that our methodologies are proprietary and may not be replicated without our permission, results described from our portfolio companies are not guaranteed outcomes, what works for one company or market may not work for another, and our approach involves continuous evolution and experimentation.

12.2 No AI Services on This Website

This website does NOT provide AI tools or software that you can use, use AI to generate content for you, or offer AI-as-a-service products. Any AI services would be provided through separate portfolio companies, not through this Site.

12.3 AI Output Limitations

You acknowledge that AI technologies (which may be used in our portfolio companies or future services) have inherent limitations: AI outputs may be incomplete, inaccurate, or inappropriate, AI systems may "hallucinate" or generate false information, and AI should be used with human oversight and verification.

12.4 Data Training

We do NOT use your personal data to train AI models. For clarity: contact form submissions are NOT used for AI training, we do NOT feed your emails into any machine learning system, we do NOT use your enquiries to fine-tune AI models, and your communications remain private and are used only for responding to your enquiry.

12.5 Portfolio Company Disclaimers

Our portfolio companies are separate legal entities. Their privacy policies may differ from ours, their terms of service are separate and independent, and their data practices are governed by their own policies. Links from our Site to portfolio companies do NOT constitute our endorsement of their data practices.

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13. Termination

13.1 Right to Terminate

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to our Site immediately, without prior notice or liability, for breach of these Terms, use of the Site for illegal or fraudulent purposes, abusive behaviour towards our team or other users, or any reason or no reason, at our sole discretion.

13.2 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to use the Site ceases immediately, we may delete your account and any personal data we hold (subject to legal retention requirements), and provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination will continue in force.

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14. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

14.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

14.2 Jurisdiction

Any disputes arising from or relating to these Terms or your use of the Site shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

14.3 International Users

If you access our Site from outside the UK, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, we make no representation that our Site is appropriate or available in your location, these Terms (and English law) govern your use of the Site, and we do NOT guarantee that our Site complies with laws outside England and Wales.

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15. General Provisions

15.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Ascend AI regarding your use of the Site. These Terms supersede all prior discussions, negotiations, or agreements (whether written or oral) relating to the subject matter.

15.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be limited or deleted to the minimum extent necessary so that the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Terms will not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions.

15.3 Waiver

Our failure to enforce or exercise any right or provision of these Terms will NOT constitute a waiver of such right or provision. Our waiver of any breach or default of these Terms will NOT be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach or default.

15.4 Assignment

You may NOT assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may freely assign or transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to any successor or affiliate.

15.5 Third-Party Rights

These Terms are for the benefit of Ascend AI and you. Nothing in these Terms is intended to benefit, nor shall create any rights in, any third party.

15.6 Force Majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations where such failure or delay is caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, war, civil unrest, or terrorism, pandemics, epidemics, or public health crises, natural disasters, severe weather, or geological events, government actions, strikes, or labour disputes, internet infrastructure failures, power outages, or communication failures, or actions or omissions of third-party service providers.

If affected by force majeure, we will notify you as soon as practicable and resume performance when the circumstances are resolved.

15.7 No Waiver of Consumer Rights

Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer under UK law, including (but not limited to) the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unfair or unreasonable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, it will not bind you, but you may still choose to rely on it if you wish.

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16. Contact Information

16.1 General Enquiries

For questions about these Terms or our Site, contact us at:

• Email: contact@ascend-ai.co.uk
• Website: ascend-ai.co.uk

16.2 Legal Enquiries

For legal matters, please direct your enquiry to "Legal Department" at the above email address.

16.3 Document Changes

We may update these Terms from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. Material changes (affecting your rights) will be communicated via notice on our website and email notification where we have your contact details. Your continued use of the Site after changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

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