SIM 25 Terms and Conditions.docx

SIM Conference 2025

Terms & Conditions

Updated 18th January 2025

Section A – Our relationship with you

Who we are

We are Startup Portugal - Associação Portuguesa para a Promoção do Empreendedorismo (SPAPPE), an association incorporated under the laws of Portugal with registration number 514107405 and registered office at Rua de Salazares, 842, 4100-442, Porto. Startup Portugal provides access to the Startups & Investment Matching Conference “SIM Conference” event, that allows users to access talks, discussions and networking opportunities taking place between 08/05/2025 – 09/05/2025 (hereinafter “SIM” or “SIM Conference”).

These Terms govern your use of our service and access to the SIM Event and inform you of all contractual obligations you should be aware of.

Structure of terms

These Terms regulate the relationship between Startup Portugal and the person who wishes to purchase a SIM Conference 25 Ticket (“Attendee,” “you” or “your”). These Terms consist of:

Section A (Our relationship with you);
Section B (Terms of Use);
Section C (Attendee terms), which contains terms specific to registered users accessing the SIM Event and contractual obligations;
Section D (Additional Policies), which include other policies governing your access to and use of the Website and the SIM Event mobile application(s) (“App(s)”) available:

Collectively, the above mentioned Sections are referred to as the “Terms”.

Your agreement with us

You should read this document carefully. These Terms govern your online purchase, online and in-person registration, online and in-person attendance at and/or participation in the SIM Event. By registering for the SIM Conference, you agree that you have read and accepted these Terms and agree to be legally bound by them. If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms, please do not purchase, register, attend, or participate in the SIM Conference.

Registering on behalf of another

If you are registering on behalf of another person, it is your obligation to make sure that the person attending is aware of these Terms and accepts them. By completing and submitting the registration form you are representing and guaranteeing that you have made the person attending aware of these Terms and that they have accepted these Terms.

Changes to this policy

These Terms apply to you from the date of purchase until these Terms are superseded by a new version. We may update these Terms at any time for legal or regulatory reasons or to reflect changes in our Services or business practices. Any amended Terms will be posted here and/or notified to you, at our own discretion.

We have done our best to explain things clearly for you in this document but if you have any questions, please let us know.

For questions about registration or assistance with any registration problems, please contact us at sim@startupportugal.com
If you have any other questions, concerns, or complaints, you may contact us at sim@startupportugal.com. Our registered office address and company registration number are mentioned at the beginning of this document.

Section B – Terms of Use

1. Access to the SIM Conference

We, in our discretion, and without any liability or obligation to refund, reserve the right to refuse participation to or to remove access to the SIM Conference anyone that we determine:

Is behaving in a manner that could disrupt, hinder, or cause a nuisance to the SIM Conference or to the enjoyment of any other person or partner at the SIM Conference;
Represents a security or health & safety risk to the SIM Conference or to any person or partner; and/or
Fails to comply with, or is likely to fail to comply with, these Terms of Use or our Additional Policies (Section D).

You agree to comply with all applicable laws in connection with your access to or participation in the SIM Conference.

2. Changes or cancellation of the SIM Conference

We try to make sure that the SIM Conference programmes, speakers, topics, platform, format and dates are correct at the time of publishing. Circumstances beyond our control may cause the need for substitutions, alterations, postponements, or cancellations to the content, format, themes, name, performers, hosts, moderators, venue, timing, platform or dates of the SIM Event. We reserve the right to do so at any time and will not be liable to you for any cost incurred by you as a result.

We will endeavor to notify you as soon as reasonably practicable of any substitutions, postponements, or changes by posting the updated information on the Website.

IF THE SIM CONFERENCE IS POSTPONED, WE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH ACCESS TO THE SIM CONFERENCE AT A LATER DATE. NO REFUNDS WILL BE PROVIDED IF THE SIM CONFERENCE IS POSTPONED.

In the unlikely event of cancellation of the SIM Conference, our total aggregate liability to you is limited to the refund of the ticket value excluding any credit card and payment processing fees, and we will not be liable to you for any expenditure, damage or loss incurred by you as a result of the cancellation, as permitted by applicable law.

3. Your attendance at the SIM Event

You are responsible for advising us at the time of making your booking regarding any special access requirements you require at the SIM Event. Please do it at least 2 weeks prior to the SIM Event through the email address: simconf@startupportugal.com.

4. Third party links

The SIM Conference or the Services may contain links to third parties and to contributions uploaded by participants, including videos, images, descriptions, links and other content. We are not responsible for or liable to these third party sites, and you should review any terms and conditions when entering those sites or viewing their content.

5. Personal use only

The Services and the SIM Conference are for your personal use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household. For the duration of the SIM Conference we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access the Services and view the SIM Conference. Except for this, no right, title, or interest shall be transferred to you.

6. Usage terms

Access to the SIM Event and use of the Services requires compatible devices, and certain software (including third party software) may be required or may need updating, and your use of the Services and SIM Conference may be affected by the performance of these elements.

7. SIM Conference App

If you choose to complete a SIM Conference App profile, your profile will be discoverable and visible in the app to other SIM Conference users. By using the SIM Conference App you agree with the website terms and conditions and with our Privacy Policy.

8. Intellectual property rights

All intellectual property rights (“IP”) in and to the SIM Conference, the SIM Conference content, the Services and all materials distributed at or in connection with the SIM Conference are owned by us, our partners, and/or the SIM Conference sponsors or speakers participating in the SIM Conference. You agree not to reproduce, modify, distribute, license, perform, publish, create derivative works from or use (except as authorized and in accordance with these Terms) the SIM Conference or the Services for any reason.

Nothing in these Terms shall vest in you any legal or beneficial right in or to any IP owned or used under license by us or our related companies or grant to you any right or license to any other IP of ours or of our related companies. All such IP shall remain the exclusive property of us and our related companies.

It is forbidden for any company, organization, or person to attempt to host or organize any event in conjunction with, contiguous to or purporting to be related to the SIM Conference or its partners without our express prior permission. We reserve our right to take action against such activities or attempts (legal or otherwise), including a claim for damages as we, in our sole discretion, deem appropriate.

9. Acceptable Use

When accessing and using the Website and its related subdomains you are prohibited from:

violating any law, statute, ordinance, or regulation;
using the Services for any illegal purposes or not in accordance with all relevant and applicable laws;
promoting or providing information about illegal activities, promoting physical harm or injury against any group or individual, or promoting any illegal acts;
uploading or transmitting through the Services any computer viruses, macro viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or anything other harmful activity;
overriding any security feature of the Website or jeopardize the security of your account or someone else’s account (such as allowing someone else to log in to the Website or use the Services as you);
interfering with the operation of, or placing an unreasonable load on the Website (such as viruses, denial of service attack or gaming algorithms);
using manual or automated software, devices or other means or processes to access, scrape or crawl the Website or any content or information contained in it or the Services;
engaging in ‘framing’, ‘mirroring’, or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of the Website;
removing any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices contained in the Website or from the SIM Event;
modifying, creating derivative works or copying or storing any significant portion of the Website or SIM Event or any related technology (unless allowed by law or consented by us in writing);
using filming equipment or other devices to record the SIM Conference;
using the Website (or any part of it) in a manner which may result in; (i) the Website and/or the SIM Conference being interrupted, damaged, rendered less efficient or such manner designed to interfere with, interrupt or disrupt the normal operating procedures of a computer or Website; (ii) sharing any material which is unlawful, libelous, abusive, obscene, pornographic, discriminatory, harmful, fraudulent, deceptive, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar invasive of another’s privacy, hateful or otherwise objectionable, defamatory, offensive, or of an obscene or menacing character, or that may cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety; (iii) impairing the effectiveness or functionality of the Website or the SIM Event; or (iv) violating or infringing the rights of any person, firm or company (including, but not limited to, IP, confidentiality and/ or privacy) of the Website;
attempting to grant any unauthorized access to any part or component of the Website;
copying or distributing any part of the Website in any medium without our prior written consent; and
altering or modifying any part of the Website other than as may be reasonably necessary to use the Website for its intended use; or
reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling deciphering or otherwise attempting to obtain the source code or underlying ideas or information of or relating to the Website or any related technology, or any part thereof unless allowed by law;
Compromising the security of the Services such as transmitting viruses, malware or destructive code;
Attempting to circumvent restrictions on access or usage;
Tampering with the Services or accounts of users such as hacking;
Harvesting, gathering or sharing private information from the SIM Conference, Services or accounts of its users without consent; or
Partaking in hostile activities aimed at damaging the SIM Conference, Services or accounts of its users.

We may terminate or restrict your use of our Services if you violate these Terms or are engaged in illegal or fraudulent use of the Service.

11. Your Contribution and Messages

Messages

We may permit you to send messages and other communications to us or to other users via the App (“Messages”). You are solely responsible for your Messages and the consequences of sending them and expressly release us and agree to hold us harmless from all and any liability arising from your Messages. You grant us (and we accept) a global right to use, store, and reproduce your Messages for the limited purpose of facilitating sending them to your chosen recipients (and we may also use third party service providers to facilitate the sending of your Messages). You represent and warrant that your Messages will not infringe any third party right of others. You acknowledge and agree that the provisions of our Content Guidelines and Anti-Harassment policy shall also apply to Messages that you send.

Your Contribution

We may permit your sharing and publishing of Your content to the SIM Conference subject to these Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy (“Your Contribution”) and you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual right to use Your Contribution on in relation to the Services. You understand that you are responsible for Your Contribution and it may be publicly available and You agree to waive any moral rights in Your Contribution. We have discretion whether to publish Your Contribution and we reserve the right without further notice to you, to monitor, censor, edit, remove, and/or delete any and all of Your Contribution at any time which we believe to be in violation of these Terms of Use, our Content Guidelines and our Anti-Harassment policy. We reserve the right to access, read, preserve and disclose any Your Contribution or any other information that we obtain in connection with the Services as we reasonably believe is necessary to: (i) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, subpoena or governmental request; (ii) enforce these Terms, including investigation of potential violations of it; (iii) detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; (iv) respond to your user support requests; or (v) protect the rights, property or safety of us, our users or the public.

You are not permitted to engage in or attempt to engage in any activity in breach of the Terms of Use. This includes:

Impersonating or misrepresenting an individual or entity in a manner that is considered misleading or deceptive;
Partaking in activities that are considered fraudulent, unlawful or false, such as scams;
Using our site in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;
Sending mass solicitation material without a lawful intent or purpose, such as spam;
Knowingly transmitting any data, or sending or uploading any material, that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware;
Knowingly sending, receiving, uploading, download, using or re-using any material that does not comply with our content standards;
Violating the privacy of individuals, or distributing confidential or personal information relating to individuals;
Violating or infringing any intellectual property or proprietary rights of individuals or entities, including but not limited to copyrights. You may not use your username, display name, or profile bio to engage in any practice prohibited by these Terms and Conditions.

12. Warranties

To the extent permitted by the applicable law, we disclaim all warranties or conditions, either express or implied, or any part of them in respect of any aspect of the SIM Conference or any related materials. You acknowledge and agree that in accepting these Terms you have not relied on any representation or warranty that is not expressly included in these Terms and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any misrepresentation which has not become a part of these Terms.

The SIM Conference (including but not limited to videos, transcripts, audio etc.) is made available AS IS and Startup Portugal does not offer any warranty of any kind, or represent that the SIM Conference will be accurate, complete, or error-free. We are not liable for the usage of, implementation of, impact from, or communication of the ideas presented in any element of the SIM Conference.

13. Limitation of Liability

You acknowledge and agree that views expressed by speakers at or in connection with the SIM Conference are their own and we do not accept any responsibility or liability for any advice given or views expressed during or in connection with the SIM Conference.

Materials shared or distributed at or in connection with the SIM Event are intended for information purposes only and should not be relied upon by you or others. We and our related companies do not provide any guarantees, conditions or warranties that the materials are complete or accurate and do not accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by you or any person on any aspect of the SIM Event and/or any information provided at the SIM Conference.

To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law:

(a) we and our related partners shall not be liable to you whether in contract, tort (including for negligence), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise for any loss of profits; loss of sales or business; loss of agreements or contracts; loss of anticipated savings; loss of income; loss of opportunity; loss of or damage to goodwill; loss of use or corruption of software, data or information; and/or similar losses or pure economic loss, or for any indirect or consequential loss, costs, damages, charges or expenses however arising under or in connection with the performance or contemplated performance of the Terms, even if we had been advised of the possibility of same in advance; and

(b) subject to paragraph (c) (below), our total aggregate liability in contract, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise, arising under or in connection with the performance or contemplated performance of the Terms is limited to the total amount paid by you to us for your ticket to participate and access the SIM Conference, after the payment of any processing fees or bank charges applicable.

(c) Nothing in these Terms purports to exclude or limit liability for any fraudulent statement or act or in respect of any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

14. Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us, our related Partners,, third-party service providers, and our respective employees, contractors, agents, officers, and directors harmless from all claims, liability, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise out of or are related to any breach of the Terms by you or any other liabilities incurred by us arising out of your attendance or participation or access to the SIM Conference.

15. Survival

The clauses of these Terms which by their nature should survive if the Agreement between you and Startup Portugal is terminated, shall survive such termination. If any provision or provisions of these Terms shall be held to be unenforceable, invalid or illegal, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall remain in effect and full force.

16. Force majeure

It is possible that the SIM Event and/or some of the Services may not be available at any given time due to (a) power or server outages or issues (b) update or maintenance periods (c) as a result of a war, acts of God, flood, drought, earthquake or other natural disaster; (d) epidemic or pandemic; (e) terrorist attack, civil war, civil commotion or riots, war, threat of or preparation for war, armed conflict, imposition of sanctions, embargo, or breaking off of diplomatic relations; (f) nuclear, chemical or biological contamination or sonic boom; (g) any law or any action taken by a government or public authority; (h) collapse of buildings, fire, explosion or accident; (i) any labour or trade dispute, strikes, industrial action or lockouts; (j) non-performance by suppliers or subcontractors; (k) interruption or failure of utility service and/or (l) electronic or communications failure. We will take reasonable efforts to provide you with notice of interruption of the Services or of the SIM Conference. Where the Services are unavailable for reasons beyond the control of Startup Portugal, we shall have no liability to you.

We are not liable if the SIM Conference is, in whole or in part, canceled, rescheduled or postponed, or for any failure or delay to perform our obligations under these Terms, if such event results from anything beyond our reasonable control (for example (a) power or server outages or issues (b) update or maintenance periods (c) as a result of a war, acts of God, flood, drought, earthquake or other natural disaster; (d) epidemic or pandemic; (e) terrorist attack, civil war, civil commotion or riots, war, threat of or preparation for war, armed conflict, imposition of sanctions, embargo, or breaking off of diplomatic relations; (f) nuclear, chemical or biological contamination or sonic boom; (g) any law or any action taken by a government or public authority; (h) collapse of buildings, fire, explosion or accident; (i) any labor or trade dispute, strikes, industrial action or lockouts; (j) non-performance by suppliers or subcontractors; and (k) interruption or failure of utility service , (l) electronic or communications failure y) or anything else that renders performance of the SIM Event, in whole or in part, impracticable, illegal or impossible.

17. Governing law and jurisdiction

This interpretation, formation and operation of the Terms and all non-contractual obligations arising from or connected with them shall be governed by and construed in accordance with, and all disputes between the parties arising out of or in any way relating to the Terms or any disputes between the parties in any way connected with the subject matter of these Terms (whether contractual or non-contractual) shall be governed by, the laws of Portugal.

Each of the parties submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Portuguese courts.

We do not offer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), including through the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution Service. If you have a complaint, please contact us at simconf@startupportugal.com..

Nothing contained in the Terms shall limit our right to bring enforcement proceedings in another jurisdiction or to seek interim, protective or provisional relief in the courts of another jurisdiction.

18. Some final terms

These Terms (including our privacy and cookies policies) contain the entire agreement and understanding between us in respect of all matters which are referred to herein and supersede any prior, written or oral agreement between us relating to such matters. You confirm that in agreeing to accept these Terms you have not relied on any representation that is not expressly included herein and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any misrepresentation which has not become a part of these Terms. However, nothing in these Terms purports to exclude liability for any fraudulent statement or act.

If a court with jurisdiction over these Terms finds that any part of these Terms is wholly or partly unenforceable, you and us agree that where possible, the court should modify the terms to make that part enforceable while still achieving its intent. If the court cannot do that, you and us agree that the court should not regard that unenforceable part but still enforce the rest of these Terms.

If we fail to insist that you perform any of your obligations under these Terms or we do not act or delay in acting to in exercise a right or remedy provided by these Terms that does not mean we have waived our rights or remedies against you and will not mean that you do not have to comply with your obligations.

These Terms are personal to you. You agree not to assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else without receiving our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer these Terms without your consent by providing you with notice.

You and we agree that no agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of these Terms and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind us in any respect.

You agree that the only way you can provide us with a legal notice is at the address(s) set out in Section A above (our Registered Address). We will send all information related to the SIM Conference and Services in electronic form only such as the email address you have provided us on registration. To the extent allowed by law, the English language version of the Terms is binding and any translations are for convenience only.

You agree that the SIM Conference is intended for informational, entertainment and networking purposes only. The Services or the SIM Conference do not constitute legal, financial, professional, medical or tax advice and cannot be used for such purposes. You acknowledge that all information and content accessed by you using the Services and the SIM Conference is at your own risk. We do not endorse or recommend any Party participating in the SIM Conference. We expressly disclaim any liability or responsibility for usage of, implementation of, impact from, or communications of the ideas or discussions presented by any Attendee, speaker or other participant at the SIM Conference.

In these Terms:

a reference to the Terms includes all its parts described in Section A, and includes any amendment to or replacement of them;
headings are for reference purposes only and do not form part of the Terms;
a reference to a statute, code or other law includes regulations and other instruments under it and consolidations, amendments, re-enactments or replacements of any of them;
the singular includes the plural, and vice versa; and
“includes”, “including”, “for example”, “such as” and similar terms are not words of limitation.
If you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms excludes any of your applicable consumer or other statutory legal rights that cannot be waived.
If an individual purchases a general Attendee ticket before purchasing a startup ticket we reserve the right to grant a full, partial, or no refund at our sole discretion.

Section C – Attendee terms

Tickets and pricing

You can find details of attendee ticket pricing and associated fees for the SIM Conference here. Ticket prices are accurate at the time of publication. We reserve the right to modify ticket prices at any time; however, any changes will not affect tickets that have already been purchased.

Each ticket category has its own specific perks, which are available on the ticketing website. By purchasing a ticket, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to comply with these terms. It is the responsibility of the buyer to review them before completing the purchase.

A valid ticket grants you access to the SIM Event and its perks in accordance with the category of the purchased ticket.

If you purchase a Startup Showcase Ticket, you will be subject to a validation process to confirm your eligibility to exhibit your startup at the SIM Conference 2025 Showcase. After purchasing the ticket, you must complete the form provided in your confirmation email. Startup Portugal will then review your submission to ensure compliance with the Eligibility Criteria.

If your application is approved, you will receive a confirmation email welcoming you to the Showcase and providing instructions on obtaining the second ticket.
If your application is not approved, your Startup Showcase Ticket will be converted into a Startup No Showcase Ticket instead.

Discounts

We are not obligated to offer any discounts for the SIM Conference and reserve the right to change or withdraw a discount offer at any time in our sole discretion.

Ticket name changes

Ticket name changes are permitted.

Refund and cancellation

Your ticket is a personal revocable license, which may be withdrawn, and access to the SIM Conference may be refused at any time upon a refund of the printed registration price.

If you are eligible under applicable law to avail of a right to cancel your purchase of a ticket within 14 days without giving any reason and to receive a reimbursement of payments, you need to notify us in writing of your decision to cancel your SIM Conference ticket within 14 days of the day the contract for distance selling was concluded. The refund will be made in the same form as the original payment was received (for example, a credit card payment will refund to the same credit card account number) and is limited to the ticket value excluding any credit card and payment processing fees. However, you acknowledge that when you purchased a ticket to the SIM Conference you agreed to the immediate download of digital content and that if you access the SIM Conference, the Services or any digital content you lose your right to withdraw.

All purchases are non-refundable after the 14-day cooling-off period or once you have accessed the SIM Conference, its services, or any digital content. Refunds are available up to two weeks before the event. For purchases made after this date, no refunds will be issued.

Our free and subsidized ticket promotions sometimes include a processing fee. This processing fee is non-refundable in its entirety.

No reselling

The tickets you purchase are for your own personal use and may not be resold under any circumstances, including but not limited to use as part of any promotion or competition. This includes subsidized tickets.

Reselling or otherwise transferring your ticket, not in accordance with the Terms, will void the ticket and the ticket holder will not gain access to the SIM Conference. Where there has been any resale or attempted resale of any tickets (or any other breach of this term), we reserve the right to cancel the relevant tickets with immediate effect.

It is allowed to transfer the purchased ticket to a third party if there is no monetary transfer involved.

We reserve the right to cancel any ticket purchase made by any person or body whom we reasonably believe to be associated with any ticket reselling or ticket broker.

Age limitation

You must be 18 years of age to use the Services. Minors may only use the Services under the supervision of an adult and must send us a disclosure authorization statement and personal data processing, subscribed by the legal representative.

Section D - Additional Terms

Your use of our Services is also subject to the following policies which govern your access to and use of the Website and the App available: