Who we are
Benchbound is operated by Tech Merks Ventures (CAC Business Name Registration No. 9404110), a registered business name, not a limited company. Its registered address is 10 Aroyewun, Street, Ogudu G.R.A, Kosofe, Lagos, Nigeria. For any privacy request or question about this policy, email benchboundsupport@techmerks.com.
What we collect, and why
We collect as little as we can get away with. This is a deliberate design decision, not an accident.
- The free sampler and mini-mock require no account and no email address. Two caveats stated plainly: your IP address is processed transiently for rate limiting and abuse prevention (IP addresses are personal data under most data-protection regimes), and anonymous product analytics run under a random identifier that is not linked to you.
- If you create an account, we collect your email address. Sign-in is Sign in with Google, and it is the only way in: no phone numbers, no passwords, no names. Google sends us your email address and an account identifier (an opaque number). We store the email, and we store that identifier solely to link your Benchbound account to your Google one. Everything else Google offers us we discard — your name and profile picture are never stored here.
- What Google learns: to sign you in, your browser visits Google, so Google sees that you are signing in to Benchbound and when. That is between you and Google under Google's own privacy policy; we never receive your Google password, and we cannot read anything else in your Google account.
- If you make a purchase, we record the payment reference, amount, payment channel, and status. Card details never touch our servers — payments are processed by Paystack.
- Practice activity: when you practise while signed in, we record your per-question progress and per-course totals so the product can show you where you stand.
- Analytics and errors: we use PostHog for product analytics and Sentry for error reporting. Anonymous free-tier usage is tracked under an anonymous identifier and merged into your account only after you sign in.
Lawful basis
We process account and payment data because it is necessary to provide the service you signed up or paid for (contract). We process analytics and error data on the basis of our legitimate interest in understanding and improving the product, and your consent where the law requires it.
Where your data lives (cross-border transfer)
Personal data is stored and processed on infrastructure located in the United States and other jurisdictions outside Nigeria, operated by the service providers below. By using Benchbound you consent to this transfer, which is protected by the safeguards described in each provider's own policy:
Retention and deletion
We keep your data for as long as your account exists. To request a copy of your data or the deletion of your account and data, email benchboundsupport@techmerks.com from the email address on the account. Requests are fulfilled manually within 30 days.
Cookies and local storage
We use cookies and browser local storage for session authentication and analytics. There are no advertising trackers.