Legal — cookies
Cookies Policy
The short version. Like most professional platforms, Invest Business uses a small set of cookies and similar technologies: essential cookies that make sign-in, security and payments work, and analytics cookies (with your consent) that help us understand how the site is used. We do not currently use third-party advertising cookies on the Website. You control non-essential cookies through the cookie consent banner and your browser settings. This summary is for convenience only and is not a substitute for the full policy below.
Last updated: 26 July 2026
Preamble
This Cookies Policy explains how INVEST BUSINESS LTD ("we", "us" or "our"), a company registered in England and Wales under company number 14852760, with its registered office at 207 Regent Street, Suite 8, Third Floor, London, England W1B 3HH, United Kingdom, uses cookies and similar technologies to recognise you when you visit our website at https://investbusiness.com (the "Website"). It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.
In some cases, cookies may collect personal information, or information that becomes personal information if we combine it with other information. Where that is the case, our Privacy Policy applies to that processing in addition to this Cookies Policy.
Contents
- What are cookies?
- Legal basis and consent
- The cookies we use
- How can I control cookies?
- Other tracking technologies
- Targeted advertising
- Updates to this policy
- Contact us
1. What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They are widely used by website owners to make their websites work, to make them work more efficiently, and to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, INVEST BUSINESS LTD) are called "first-party cookies". Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called "third-party cookies"; they enable third-party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (for example payments, interactive content and analytics), and the parties that set them can recognise your device both when it visits our Website and when it visits certain other websites.
2. Legal basis and consent
Under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and the EU ePrivacy rules, together with the UK GDPR and the GDPR: strictly necessary (essential) cookies are used without consent, because the Website cannot function properly without them; all other cookies (such as analytics) are set only with your consent, which you give — and can withdraw at any time — through the cookie consent banner on the Website. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
3. The cookies we use
The specific cookies served through our Website and the purposes they perform are described below. The specific cookies served may vary depending on the parts of the Website you visit.
Essential cookies
These are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through the Website and to use its features, such as sign-in, security and payments. They cannot be rejected.
| Name | Purpose | Provider / Service | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| __Host-next-auth.csrf-token | Protects sign-in against cross-site request forgery | investbusiness.com (authentication) | Session |
| __Secure-next-auth.callback-url | Manages the secure sign-in flow | investbusiness.com (authentication) | Session |
| nextauth.message | Keeps your session state in sync between browser tabs | investbusiness.com (authentication, local storage) | Persistent |
| csrf_token | Protects forms against hacking and malicious actors | investbusiness.com | 29 days |
| __stripe_mid | Payment fraud prevention and detection | investbusiness.com (Stripe) | ~12 months |
| __stripe_sid | Payment fraud prevention and detection | investbusiness.com (Stripe) | 30 minutes |
| m | Tracks the user's session for Stripe payments | m.stripe.com (Stripe) | ~24 months |
| bc_consent_v1 | Stores the choices you made in the consent banner — the categories you accepted or rejected, the time, your general region, a random identifier for this record, the banner version and whether your browser sent a Global Privacy Control signal — so that your choices are honoured on later visits. A copy, together with the technical data any web request carries (such as your IP address), is sent to BusinessConsent as proof of consent; it does not include your name, email address or account details. | BusinessConsent (consent management, local storage) | Persistent — until you clear your browser storage or reset your choices |
| bc_consent_id | A random identifier generated once for your browser and reused, so that your consent record can be recognised on later visits; it is not linked to your name or account. | BusinessConsent (consent management, local storage) | Persistent — until you clear your browser storage or reset your choices |
Analytics cookies
These collect information used in aggregate form to help us understand how the Website is being used and how effective our communications are. They are set only with your consent.
| Name | Purpose | Provider / Service | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Records an ID used to generate statistical data about Website usage. Google Analytics is loaded only after your acceptance of statistics cookies; before that, no Google Analytics script runs on this Website. It then runs under Google Consent Mode, Google's way of telling its own tags what you have consented to: the analytics-storage signal starts as "denied" and is set to "granted" only through that acceptance. If you later withdraw it, the signal is set back to "denied", Google Analytics measurement for this Website stops, and the script is not loaded on later page loads. Cookies already placed are not deleted automatically — you can remove them through your browser settings. | investbusiness.com (Google Analytics) | ~13 months |
| _ga_# | Distinguishes individual users and sessions via a randomly generated identifier. It is placed and read only under the same acceptance of statistics cookies and the same Google Consent Mode analytics-storage signal as _ga, above. | investbusiness.com (Google Analytics) | ~13 months |
To opt out of Google Analytics across websites, you can also install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Preference (functionality) storage
These remember choices you make during a visit so the Website behaves consistently.
| Name | Purpose | Provider / Service | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| optionSelected | Remembers an option you selected during your visit | investbusiness.com (session storage) | Session |
| countrySelected | Remembers the country you selected during your visit | investbusiness.com (session storage) | Session |
4. How can I control cookies?
Consent banner. You can set and change your cookie preferences at any time through the cookie consent banner on the Website, which is provided by BusinessConsent (businessconsent.com) and lets you accept or reject categories of cookies. The "Cookie settings" link the banner leaves on the page reopens it; on pages that show our website footer, the "Consent Preferences" link does the same (our public marketing pages do not carry that footer). Essential cookies cannot be rejected, as they are strictly necessary to provide you with the services. If you reject non-essential cookies, you may still use the Website, though access to some functionality may be limited. Rejecting or withdrawing consent stops the related cookies being used going forward, but it does not automatically remove cookies already placed on your device — you can delete those through your browser settings. When you make or change a choice, a record of it — the categories chosen, the time, your general region, the random identifiers listed in Section 3, the banner version and whether your browser sent a Global Privacy Control signal — is kept in your browser and sent to BusinessConsent as proof of consent, together with the technical data any web request carries, such as your IP address. This record does not include your name, email address or account details.
Browser controls. You can also set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. The means vary from browser to browser — consult your browser's help pages: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera.
For information about opting out of interest-based advertising generally, you can visit the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance.
5. Other tracking technologies
Cookies are not the only way to recognise or track visitors. We may use other, similar technologies from time to time:
Web beacons (sometimes called "tracking pixels" or "clear gifs") are tiny graphics files containing a unique identifier that enable us to recognise when someone has visited the Website or opened an e-mail including them — for example, to monitor traffic patterns, deliver or communicate with cookies, improve site performance, and measure the success of e-mail communications. In many instances these technologies rely on cookies to function, so declining cookies impairs their functioning.
Local and session storage are browser technologies that store small amounts of data on your device — the Website uses them for the authentication, consent and preference entries listed in Section 3. Session storage is cleared when you close your browser; local storage persists until deleted.
6. Targeted advertising
We do not currently use third-party advertising cookies on the Website. If that changes, the relevant cookies will be listed in this policy and set only with your consent through the consent banner. Where third parties process aggregate information in connection with the Website, that information does not enable us or them to identify your name, contact details or other directly identifying details unless you choose to provide them.
7. Updates to this policy
We may update this Cookies Policy from time to time to reflect changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please revisit it regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The date at the top indicates when it was last updated.
8. Contact us
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, contact us at info@investbusiness.com or privacy@investbusiness.com, or by post at:
INVEST BUSINESS LTD
Company No. 14852760
207 Regent Street, Suite 8, Third Floor
London, England W1B 3HH, United Kingdom
Phone: (+44) 20 3290 2022