Privacy Policy

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how Ardenti Labs and Ardenti Pay ("Ardenti," "we," "us," or "our") collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect information when merchants, merchant customers, software-platform users, applicants, administrators, and other visitors use Ardenti Pay websites, onboarding flows, dashboards, payment-routing services, integrations, APIs, and related services (collectively, the "Services").

Ardenti Pay provides payment-integration, orchestration, merchant-onboarding, transaction-routing, reporting, and related financial-technology services. Depending on the transaction and merchant, payment processing, settlement, bank-linking, identity verification, underwriting, and other regulated financial services may be performed by independent payment processors, acquiring banks, sponsor banks, banking partners, card networks, or other financial-service providers.

2. Information we collect

We may collect the following categories of information:

• Merchant and business information: legal and trade names, business address, phone number, email address, website, industry, merchant category, ownership information, tax or registration information, expected payment volume, average ticket size, processing history, and related onboarding data.
• Account and user information: names, usernames, contact information, roles, authentication data, organization membership, support history, and account preferences.
• Transaction and payment metadata: transaction identifiers, dates, amounts, currency, payment status, processor, settlement status, refunds, disputes, chargebacks, payment method type, merchant location, and related reconciliation information.
• Financial-account information: when you choose to link a bank account or financial account, we may receive account ownership information, institution name, account type, masked account identifiers, balance or verification results, and other data authorized through the applicable financial-data provider.
• Processor and underwriting information: application status, risk indicators, merchant eligibility, processor pricing, reserve or funding terms, and related information supplied by you or an authorized processing partner.
• Device and technical information: IP address, browser and device information, operating system, log data, timestamps, session information, security events, API usage, cookies, and similar technologies.
• Communications: messages, support requests, feedback, quote requests, and other communications you send to us.

3. Sensitive payment and banking information

Ardenti Pay is designed to minimize direct exposure to sensitive payment credentials. Full card numbers, card security codes, bank-login credentials, identity-document images, and similar sensitive information may be collected directly by the applicable processor, bank-linking provider, identity-verification provider, acquiring bank, or other authorized service provider rather than by Ardenti.

Where Ardenti receives financial-account information through an authorized connection, we use that data only for permitted business purposes such as merchant onboarding, account verification, payment enablement, reconciliation, fraud prevention, risk review, customer support, and compliance with legal or contractual obligations.

4. How we use information

We may use information to:

• provide, operate, maintain, and improve the Services;
• onboard merchants and establish or maintain processor connections;
• evaluate merchant eligibility and route transactions to eligible payment processors or financial-service providers;
• prepare quotes, pricing, settlement, reserve, funding, and risk information;
• process, reconcile, report, refund, dispute, or otherwise support transactions;
• authenticate users, protect accounts, prevent fraud, and investigate misuse;
• support legal, regulatory, contractual, audit, tax, accounting, and recordkeeping obligations;
• communicate about accounts, transactions, service changes, security matters, and support requests;
• analyze performance and usage, troubleshoot systems, and develop new features; and
• enforce our terms, policies, and agreements.

5. How we disclose information

We may disclose information to the following categories of recipients when reasonably necessary to provide or support the Services:

• Payment processors, acquiring banks, sponsor banks, financial institutions, and card networks involved in merchant onboarding, payment authorization, processing, settlement, disputes, fraud prevention, or compliance.
• Bank-linking, identity, risk, fraud, compliance, and verification providers that help us verify accounts, businesses, ownership, or transaction risk.
• Service providers and vendors that host infrastructure, provide databases, analytics, security, communications, customer support, software, or professional services on our behalf.
• Corporate affiliates under common ownership or control where the disclosure supports our Services, administration, security, or operations.
• Business counterparties involved in a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, or similar transaction, subject to appropriate safeguards.
• Government, regulatory, legal, or law-enforcement authorities when required by law or when reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety, security, or the integrity of the Services.
• Other parties at your direction or with your consent.

We do not sell personal information for money. We also do not permit service providers to use financial connection data for their own unrelated marketing purposes when they receive that data solely to provide services to Ardenti.

6. Financial Connections and third-party financial-data services

If you authorize Ardenti to connect to a financial account through a third-party financial-data service, your information may be processed by that provider under its own privacy policy and terms. Ardenti may receive information made available through your authorized connection and use it only for the purposes described in this policy, the applicable consent screen, and our agreements with you and the provider.

You may be able to disconnect a linked account through the Ardenti interface or the applicable provider. Disconnecting a connection does not require us or our providers to delete information that must be retained for fraud prevention, dispute handling, legal obligations, audit, security, or transaction recordkeeping.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

We may use cookies, local storage, session technologies, and similar tools to keep users signed in, preserve preferences, secure the Services, understand usage, detect fraud, and measure performance. Where required by applicable law, we will request consent for non-essential cookies.

8. Data retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Services and for legitimate business, security, dispute-resolution, tax, accounting, audit, legal, contractual, and regulatory purposes. Retention periods vary based on the type of information, transaction history, processor requirements, applicable law, and whether an account remains active.

9. Security

We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information, including access controls, tenant isolation, encrypted transport, server-side credential handling, and encrypted or hashed secrets where implemented. No security method is perfect, and we cannot guarantee that information will never be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed despite reasonable safeguards.

10. Your privacy choices and rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a copy of certain personal information, or to object to or restrict certain uses. These rights may be subject to exceptions for payment records, fraud prevention, security, legal obligations, litigation, regulatory requirements, and other permitted purposes.

Merchants, shoppers, and account users may submit privacy requests through the Ardenti Pay shopper support page or their merchant account. We may need to verify your identity and authority before completing a request.

11. U.S. state privacy disclosures

If a U.S. state privacy law applies to your information, the categories described in this policy explain the personal information we may collect, the business purposes for which we use it, and the categories of recipients to whom it may be disclosed. Ardenti does not knowingly sell personal information for monetary consideration. Where applicable law defines certain advertising or analytics disclosures as "sharing" or "targeted advertising," you may have additional opt-out rights.

12. Children

The Services are intended for businesses and adults and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the Services.

13. International processing

Ardenti and its service providers may process information in the United States and other countries where our providers operate. Those locations may have privacy laws different from those in your jurisdiction.

14. Third-party services

The Services may integrate with or link to independent payment processors, banks, financial-data providers, commerce platforms, and other third parties. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, and Ardenti is not responsible for their independent processing of information.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as Ardenti Pay adds processors, banking partners, products, features, or legal requirements. We will update the effective date above when a revised policy is published. Material changes may also be communicated through the Services or other appropriate channels.

16. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests, visit the Ardenti Pay shopper support page or use your merchant account dashboard.