Privacy notice
Effective date: 1 October 2026.
This notice explains what personal data Ask Sterling collects, why, on what lawful basis, who receives it and what your rights are under UK data protection law. The short version: this website itself collects almost nothing; if you send an enquiry through our form, we pass it to one named funding partner because you asked us to, keep it for 12 months, and never sell it.
Who we are
Ask Sterling is a trading name of OPTIMAX AI LTD, registered in England & Wales, company no. 16143914, 38 Sunnymede Avenue, Epsom KT19 9TJ. We are the controller of the personal data described here. Contact for anything in this notice, including your rights: mike@optimax-ai.com.
What this website collects
No forms on this site. The pages and calculators on asksterling.co.uk don't ask for your name, email or phone number.
Calculator inputs stay in your browser. When you type figures into a calculator, the sums run on your device. Those figures are not sent to us or stored by us.
Your cookie choice. We store one entry in your browser's local storage recording whether you accepted or declined optional cookies, so we don't ask you on every page. No cookies are set by default. Details: cookies.
Server logs. Our hosting provider (Vercel) automatically records technical information when your browser requests a page, such as your IP address, the page requested, the time and your browser type. We use these logs only to keep the site secure and working.
No analytics or advertising tags at present. None are enabled. If we add analytics or advertising tags, they only run after you accept them, and we will update this notice and our cookies page first.
What the enquiry form collects
The enquiry form lives on our funnel at leads.optimax-ai.com/uk/ask-sterling, run by the same company. This notice covers it too. When you complete it, we collect:
- Your company's answers: for example your company name, time trading, monthly turnover, what the money is for, industry, the amount you're looking for, CCJs or defaults, existing finance and ownership share.
- Your contact details: name, email address and phone number.
- Your choices: a record of the notice you saw when you sent the enquiry, and whether you ticked the separate, optional box to hear from us by email.
Giving us this information isn't a legal or contractual requirement, but we can't make an introduction without it.
Why we use it, and our lawful basis
| What we do | Lawful basis (UK GDPR Article 6) |
|---|---|
| Pass your enquiry to our funding partner, at your request | Steps taken at your request before entering into a contract (6(1)(b)), and our legitimate interests (6(1)(f)) in running an introduction service |
| Keep a record of where your enquiry went and what you were told | Legitimate interests: showing we acted on your request and handling any query or complaint |
| Check the quality of introductions with our partner (which is how our fee is worked out) | Legitimate interests: running our business |
| Protect the form against fraud and abuse; keep server logs | Legitimate interests: security |
| Send you occasional finance tips by email, only if you ticked the optional box | Consent (6(1)(a)); you can withdraw it at any time with the unsubscribe link or by emailing us |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we've weighed them against your interests: you asked to be introduced, the data goes to one named recipient, and we keep it only as long as we need it. You can object at any time.
We don't make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects. Funding decisions are made by funders, not by us.
Who receives it
One funding partner. With your agreement, we send your enquiry to Abbey Road Capital Ltd / SOJA Ventures (Co. No. 16907324), named on the form. They use it to contact you about this enquiry by phone, email or text and, with your permission, may share it with funders they work with. Once they receive it they are a separate controller, and their own privacy notice applies. See who you'll speak to.
Credit searches. We never run one. If our partner or a funder runs a credit search on your company or on you as a director, that is their processing under their own notice and the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN).
Service providers (processors). Companies that run our infrastructure process data for us and only on our instructions: website and funnel hosting (Vercel), our database (Supabase), and email (Google Workspace).
Legal reasons. If the law requires it, or to protect our rights or someone's safety.
That's the complete list. We don't sell your data, and nobody else receives it from us.
International transfers
Some of our service providers are based in, or process data in, the United States. When personal data leaves the UK, UK law requires the transfer to be covered by UK adequacy regulations or an appropriate safeguard, such as the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum. We only use providers whose transfers are covered in one of these ways. Email us if you want to know which applies to a particular provider.
How long we keep it
We keep enquiry records for 12 months from the date you send them, then delete them. If you ask us to stop contacting you, we keep a minimal record (your email or phone number) on a suppression list so we can keep honouring it. Marketing consent records are kept for as long as you're subscribed, plus a short period to show the consent was valid. Server logs are kept by our host for a short period for security.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- have it corrected if it's wrong;
- have it erased;
- restrict how we use it;
- object to our use of it based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time;
- data portability for data you gave us, where the law provides for it;
- withdraw consent where we rely on it, without affecting what we did before you withdrew.
To use any of these, email mike@optimax-ai.com from the email address you used, or include the phone number you used, so we can find your record and check it's you. It's free, and we'll reply within one month. If you ask us to erase your enquiry, we'll also tell our partner you've asked; they hold their copy under their own notice, so you may want to contact them directly too.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator: ico.org.uk, helpline 0303 123 1113.
Security
Data travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS) and is held with the service providers named above. Access is limited to the people who need it to run the service. If a breach affects you, we'll tell you and the ICO where the law requires.
Children
Ask Sterling is for company directors and owners. It isn't aimed at anyone under 18, and we don't knowingly collect data from children.
Changes to this notice
If we change how we use your data, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top before the change takes effect.
Contact
OPTIMAX AI LTD, 38 Sunnymede Avenue, Epsom KT19 9TJ. Email: mike@optimax-ai.com.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk — UK GDPR, Article 13 (information to be provided) (2026)
- legislation.gov.uk — UK GDPR, Article 6 (lawfulness of processing) (2026)
- ICO — International transfers: a guide (2026)
- ICO — Data protection complaints (2026)
- Experian — Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN) (2026)