Terms of Service

Torches (“we,” “us,” “Torches”) operates torches.io, a discovery, verification, and messaging layer connecting people building patents, apps, and software (“Innovators”) with people looking to fund them (“Investors”). Torches is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, or payment processor for investments, and does not process or hold investment funds. Any investment is a direct agreement between an Investor and an Innovator, negotiated and settled entirely off-platform. Torches is not a party to that agreement and does not guarantee its terms, its completion, or any outcome.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use Torches. You're responsible for keeping your account credentials secure and for all activity under your account. Provide accurate information when you sign up and keep it current; one account per person.

If you list a project as an Innovator, you confirm you own it or have the right to represent it, and that any patent, domain, or business claims you make are accurate. We manually review submissions before they're publicly visible and may reject or remove a listing that's inaccurate, infringing, or violates these terms. Listing a project does not guarantee it will be funded, viewed, or approved.

Torches surfaces projects and facilitates messaging between Investors and Innovators; it does not vet, endorse, or provide legal, financial, tax, or investment advice on any listing or proposed investment. If you invest, you're responsible for your own due diligence and for any agreement you enter into directly with an Innovator. An investment shown as “confirmed” on Torches reflects that both parties acknowledged it happened; Torches did not process, verify amounts against, or hold the underlying funds.

Sparks are an in-platform currency you can earn for free or purchase, spent on promotion features (search highlighting, homepage placement, and similar). Purchases are processed by our payment provider, Paddle, and are governed by our Pricing and Refund Policy. Sparks have no cash value, aren't redeemable for cash, and aren't transferable between accounts.

You agree not to:

• Impersonate someone else or misrepresent your affiliation with a project.
• Post false, fraudulent, or misleading claims about a project, patent, or investment.
• Scrape, mass-download, or use automated tools against the site outside its public APIs, if any.
• Harass, threaten, or spam other users, including through Direct Messages.
• Attempt to circumvent our verification, moderation, or security measures.

You retain ownership of what you post (project descriptions, media, messages). By posting it, you grant Torches a license to host, display, and distribute it on the platform for the purpose of operating the service. You're responsible for having the rights to anything you upload.

We may remove content, suspend, or terminate an account that violates these terms, misrepresents a project, or is reported and substantiated as abusive or fraudulent. You can delete your own account and data at any time from Settings.

Torches is provided “as is,” without warranties of any kind. We don't guarantee that any listing is accurate, that any investment will close, or that the platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Torches is not liable for any loss arising from an investment made, or a project listed, through the platform.

We may update these terms as the platform evolves. Material changes will be posted here with an updated date; continued use of Torches after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms: reach us via the Help Center or at contact@torches.io.