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AskSterlingUnited States

Ask Sterling privacy notice

Last updated 2 October 2026 (v3)

Who we are

Ask Sterling is a trading name of OPTIMAX AI LTD, registered in England & Wales (No. 16143914), 38 Sunnymede Avenue, Epsom KT19 9TJ, United Kingdom. We are the business responsible for the details you give us here. Contact: mike@optimax-ai.com. Sterling is our guide character, not a real person and not a lender.

What we collect

  • Your answers about the business (amount, purpose, industry, time trading, deposits, credit band, ZIP code, existing finance, ownership).
  • Your name, business name, email and mobile number, and anything you add after sending (best time to call, what the money is for, how soon).
  • If you type your email on the last step but don't send, we keep that email and your answers for up to 30 days. If you had ticked the consent box, we may send you one email with a link to finish; we never pass it to anyone.
  • The result of checking your phone number (whether it is a working mobile or landline) and your email address (whether it accepts mail), so the specialist can reach you.
  • A record of the consent you gave: the exact wording, its version, the time, your IP address and browser. On US pages we also use TrustedForm, which records the page as you saw it to prove that consent.
  • Advertising and analytics cookies (Meta, Reddit, OpenAI Ads, PostHog) that measure our ads and show where the form is unclear.

What we do with it

There are two separate permissions. When you ask for your results, you agree that Ask Sterling may send them to you and contact you about them, including by text. Nothing goes to a funding partner at that point. Only if you then tick the introduction box do we pass your enquiry to our funding partner, and we record that second permission separately.

  • If your answers fit our funding partner's criteria and you send them, we pass your enquiry to one partner only: Abbey Road Capital / SOJA Ventures. They contact you about this enquiry. Ask Sterling may also text you to confirm the enquiry and help arrange the call; reply STOP to end that. We receive a fixed fee from them for each introduction.
  • If they don't fit, your details stay with Ask Sterling. With your consent we may contact you about other business funding options, and we ask you before passing your details to anyone.
  • We never sell your details, and we do not share them for cross-context behavioural advertising beyond the measurement cookies above.

Who processes it for us

Hosting (Vercel), our database (Supabase), email delivery and our enquiry log (Google), internal alerts (Slack), texts and phone-number checks (Twilio), email checks (MillionVerifier), consent records (TrustedForm / ActiveProspect), and — for measurement — Meta, Reddit, OpenAI and PostHog. Some of these providers are outside the US.

How long we keep it

Twelve months from your enquiry, then we delete it. An email you typed but didn't send: 30 days. Consent records may be kept longer where the law requires us to prove consent.

Your rights

You can ask what we hold, ask us to delete it, or opt out of any sale or sharing (Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information) by emailing mike@optimax-ai.com. Reply STOP to any text to stop texts.

AskSterling

Ask Sterling is a trading name of OPTIMAX AI LTD, registered in England & Wales (No. 16143914), 38 Sunnymede Avenue, Epsom KT19 9TJ, United Kingdom. Sterling is our guide character. Ask Sterling is an introducer, not a lender or broker, and makes no credit decisions. With your consent, your details go to one funding partner only, Abbey Road Capital / SOJA Ventures, and we receive a fee from them for each introduction. Products, amounts, rates and terms are set by the funder and subject to its review; approval is not guaranteed. A merchant cash advance is a purchase of future receivables, not a loan. We do not introduce facilities repayable in full within 90 days.

Privacy · Ads and how we're paid · Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information · mike@optimax-ai.com