Cookie Policy
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site, Virginstartup.org, and to recommend content that may be of interest to you. You can find out more below about what cookies are, the cookies we use and how to switch them off.
You can decide which cookies to accept in accordance with this policy by adjusting the options on the banner that appears on Virginstartup.org or by clicking here then clicking ‘Save and Exit’. We will only deploy strictly necessary cookies until you have made your choices in relation to which cookies you choose to allow.
What are cookies?
A cookie is a text file containing small amounts of information which is downloaded to your device when you access a website. The text file is then sent back to our server each time your browser requests a page from the server. This enables us to operate the site more effectively and load the site so that it reflects your personal preferences, based on your previous browsing on Virginstartup.org as well as keywords we may be able to gather from URLs of other webpages from which you accessed Virginstartup.org. Cookies can also allow us to do various other things, as explained below.
What cookies do we use?
When you visit Virginstartup.org, the following types of cookies may be downloaded to your device:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These are cookies that are required for the administration and operation of our site. Some cookies that we use are necessary for our site to function properly and to enable you to move around the site and use its features.
Functional Cookies
We may use functional cookies that allow us to remember choices you have made on the site so as to provide you with a more enhanced user experience by delivering content specific to your interests. We may also use cookies to embed certain social posts on our website
Analytical and Performance Cookies
We may use analytics service providers for website traffic analysis and reporting. Analytics service providers generate statistical and other information about the use of Virginstartup.org by using cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how often visitors return to our site, how long they stay and how visitors move around our site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example, it helps users to find what they are looking for easily. The information generated relating to the site may be used to create reports about the use of the site and the analytics service provider will store this information.
Third Party and Advertising Cookies
These cookies record your visit to Virginstartup.org, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed to other sites. We will use this information to try and make our site (and other sites) that you visit more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with others, such as other Virgin entities and carefully selected third parties, for this purpose.
We work with technology partners to support our website and to provide you with relevant information about the products and services of other Virgin entities both on the Virginstartup.org website and on affiliated sites or sites within the advertising networks we work with. We may use cookies on our site to help us to place relevant Virgin entity advertising on third party websites when you visit those sites. If you are not happy for us to do this, please see the section of this policy titled “How do I turn cookies off?” below.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
Cookie Name | Expiry | More information |
(Strictly Necessary Cookies) We use Facebook to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. | ||
act c_user datr locale sb spin wd xs | 90 days 90 days 2 years 1 week 1 year 1 day 1 week 90 days | Used for storing visitor data, security, personalising Facebook and integrating content |
fr | 90 days | Used for delivering advertising |
presence | At end of session | Used for storing Facebook chat information |
Google Analytics Cookies (Analytical and Performance Cookies) Used for serving and recording clicks for certain links on the website. https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage | ||
_ga _gid | 2 year 24 hours | Used for visitor identification |
_gac_UA-XXXXXXX | 90 days | Used to hold campaign information |
_gat | 1 minute | Used for the throttling of data to Google Analytics |
DV HSID SID SIDCC | 2 years 2 years 2 years 2 years | Used to ensure security and privacy |
NID SSID | 90 days 2 years | Used to store visitor preferences |
UULE | At end of session | Used to store visitor geolocation Information |
Google Optimize Cookies (Analytical and Performance Cookies) Used for serving AB tests and recording results https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage | ||
_gaexp | After test conclusion (Generally within 30 days) | Used to determine if the visitor was involved in an AB Test |
Instagram Cookies (Strictly Necessary Cookies) We use Instagram to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. | ||
csrftoken ig_cb ig_did mid rur urlgen | 1 year 100 years 10 years At end of session At end of session At end of session | Used for integrating Instagram posts onto the website. |
LinkedIn Cookies (Strictly Necessary Cookies) We use LinkedIn to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. | ||
_guid amcv li_oatml li_sugr lang liap lissc | 2 months 2 years 30 days 3 months At end of session 1 year 1 year | Used to allow sign in, track behaviour, record demographics and gather insights |
aam_uuid BizoID BizoUserMatchHistory UserMatchHistory | 30 days 6 months 30 days 30 days | Used for LinkedIn Insights and Advertising analysis |
bcookie / bscookie lidc | 2 years 1 day | Used to ensure security, privacy and routing |
Twitter Cookies (Strictly Necessary Cookies) We use Twitter to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-cookies https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-for-websites/privacy | ||
tfw_exp guest_id remember_checked_on kdt eu cn external_referer syndication_guest_id | 15 days 6 months 6 months 1 year 6 months 6 months 7 days 2 years | Used for storing visitor data, identifying visitors and security |
Personalization_id ct0 | 2 years At end of session | Used to allow the sharing of content through twitter |
rweb_optin ads_prefs dnt | 1 year 10 years 15 days | Used to stores preferences over advertising, tracking and Twitter functionality |
Virginstartup.org Cookies | ||
has_js (Strictly Necessary Cookie) | At end of session | Used to store whether the user has JavaScript enabled |
popover_campaign_once (Functional Cookie) | Used to prevent showing popover displays multiple times | |
Virgin Startup Cookies | ||
SSESS | Used to keep people logged into the website when returning | |
YouTube Cookies (Functional Cookies) Used for embedding social posts onto the website | ||
YSC VISITOR_INFO1 use_hitbox LOGIN_INFO | At end of session 6 months At end of session | Used to gather information about visitors and video usage and allow the embedding on videos on the site. |
PREF | 10 years | Used to store visitor preferences |
Do we use any third-party cookies?
Because the Virgin Group and Richard Branson have a strong presence on various social networks, we try to make it as easy as possible to share content and to see what content is popular on those networks. We add buttons to allow people to easily share to those networks. We also use Facebook to power the commenting functionality on the site. When we include these social 'plugins', it gives those sites the flexibility to use their own cookies. They can't read any cookies we set from Virginstartup.org, and we can't read any cookies they set, but it lets them do the same kind of traffic measuring that we do on the rest of Virginstartup.org (and it also lets them know whether you're logged into their site). For example, if you're logged in to Facebook, read a post by Richard Branson and want to make a comment, you can do that straight away without having to log in again - we never know whether you're logged in or not, as you communicate directly with Facebook, through their plugins on our site.
Other sites and services (including, for example, advertising networks, providers of external services like web traffic analysis services and content recommendation engines) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical and performance cookies or advertising and targeting cookies and we use these to improve your experience on Virginstartup.org.
The following third parties may use cookies:
● Facebook – Website Functionality
● Instagram – Website Functionality
● LinkedIn – Website Functionality
● Twitter – Website Functionality
● YouTube – Website Functionality
● Google Analytics – Analytical and Performance
● Google Experiments – Analytical and Performance
● Google – Related to the above regarding user security, location and personalisation
How do I turn cookies off?
If you do not wish us to download cookies or you don’t agree with how we use these cookies, you can change the settings by adjusting the options on the banner that appears on Virginstartup.org or by clicking here, then clicking ‘Save and Exit’. You can also change the settings on your internet browser to reject cookies. For more information, please consult the ‘Help’ section of your browser or visit www.aboutcookies.org, www.allaboutcookies.org, or http://optout.aboutads.info/. Please note that if you do set your browser to reject all cookies (including strictly necessary cookies), you may not be able to use all of the features on our site.