Privacy Policy

Who we are

Mella ("Mella", "we", "us") operates the Mella website and apps. We are the data controller for the personal data described here.

What we collect

• Account details — name, email address, password (stored hashed), phone number if you verify it, and date of birth to confirm you are 18 or over.
• Investor profile — profile photo, bio, headline, investment types and interests, experience, available capital and preferred investment range, goals, timeframe, risk appetite, partner preferences and preferred areas.
• Location — the area you give us and, if you allow it, your device location. We use it to calculate distance to other investors. We never show your exact location to anyone; other members see an approximate distance and a rounded map position.
• Activity — who you connect with or pass on, your matches, the messages you send, meetings you propose, deals you post or register interest in, endorsements, your investment track record and who has viewed your profile.
• Calls — when you make a voice or video call we record who called whom, when and for how long. Calls are carried by our provider Agora and are not recorded by Mella.
• Safety checks — messages are scanned automatically for common scam patterns (for example requests for crypto or guaranteed returns) so we can warn you and review abuse.
• Verification — if you choose to verify, photos of your ID document and a selfie. These are stored privately and only accessible to authorised staff.
• Payments — if you subscribe on iPhone or iPad, Apple processes your payment through the App Store and tells us your subscription status and transaction IDs. On Android and the web, Stripe processes your payment. We never receive your full card details.
• Technical data — device type, push notification tokens, IP address and app usage needed to keep the service secure and working.

How we use it, and our lawful basis

• To provide Mella — creating your account, showing your profile to other members, calculating compatibility, enabling matches and messaging (performance of our contract with you).
• To keep members safe — verification, reviewing reports, preventing fraud and enforcing our terms (legitimate interests and legal obligations).
• To send service messages and, where you've allowed it, notifications about matches and messages (contract / consent).
• To improve Mella using aggregated, non-identifying analytics (legitimate interests).

Information about your capital and investment preferences is shown to other members because that is the purpose of the service. Please only share what you are comfortable sharing.

Who we share it with

Other members see your public investor profile. We use trusted processors to run Mella — hosting, email delivery, SMS, push notifications (Google Firebase and Apple), voice and video calls (Agora), maps (Google) and payments (Apple and Stripe) — under contracts that protect your data. We may share information with law enforcement where required by law or to prevent fraud. We never sell your personal data.

How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is open. When you delete your account, your profile, matches and messages are permanently deleted, except where we must keep limited records (for example payment records for tax purposes, or information about a serious safety report).

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can access, correct, export or delete your data, object to or restrict certain processing, and withdraw consent. You can download your data and delete your account from Settings in the app, delete it on the web at https://mella.okao.site/account/delete, or contact us. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Device permissions

The app asks before using your location, camera, microphone, photos or notifications, and only uses them for the feature you're using — for example the microphone during a call. You can change these at any time in your device settings.

Children

Mella is only for people aged 18 and over.

Changes

We'll tell you about significant changes to this policy in the app or by email.