This Refund and Cancellation Policy explains your rights to cancel a purchase and to receive a refund from The Startup Race Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”), and the terms on which we offer voluntary refunds beyond your statutory rights. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, and the product-specific Terms and Conditions for each programme.
This policy is being published as an interim version while we complete a review with our solicitors. We will replace it with a finalised version once that review is complete.
This policy covers the following products and services:
Each section below sets out the specific terms for the relevant product. Where a product has its own Terms and Conditions document (notably the endorsement programmes), the product-specific terms govern alongside this policy and, where there is any conflict, the product-specific terms prevail.
Where you purchase as a consumer (an individual buying for purposes outside your trade, business, craft, or profession), you have rights under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (the “CCR 2013”) and the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Nothing in this policy excludes or limits those rights.
The two rights most relevant here are:
Where you purchase as a business (for example, a limited company or partnership entering a programme), the CCR 2013 and the consumer rights regime do not apply. Your rights are those set out in the contract you have entered into with us. The terms in this policy that go beyond statutory rights (the Foundations 30-day money-back guarantee, the membership “cancel any time” position) still apply to you in the same way.
Unless an exception applies, you have 14 calendar days from the start of the contract to cancel and receive a full refund. The cooling-off period runs from:
To exercise the cooling-off right, send us a clear statement that you wish to cancel, by email to refunds@thestartuprace.com or by completing the model cancellation form in Appendix A. You are not required to give a reason.
If you cancel within the cooling-off period, we will refund all payments you have made under the contract, using the same payment method you used for the original transaction, within 14 days of receiving your cancellation request.
For digital content delivered immediately on purchase (Foundations and any other instantly-delivered digital product), the law treats the cooling-off right as lost once delivery has begun, but only if you have given express prior consent to immediate delivery and acknowledged that you lose the cooling-off right by doing so. Our checkout flow asks you to give that consent before payment. If you do not consent, the digital content is not released until the 14-day cooling-off period ends.
If you give consent and access the content within the cooling-off period, the statutory right to cancel is lost. The voluntary 30-day money-back guarantee on Foundations (section 4) is separate and unaffected.
For coaching and programme-delivery services, if you have asked us in writing to begin delivery before the end of the 14-day cooling-off period, and we have started delivery in good faith on that basis, we may charge you a fair amount for the work we have done up to the point of cancellation. The product-specific Terms and Conditions for each programme set out exactly how this applies.
In addition to your statutory rights, we offer a voluntary 30-day money-back guarantee on the Foundations course (£19.97).
If, within 30 days of your purchase, you decide that Foundations is not for you, send an email to refunds@thestartuprace.com from the email address used at purchase, with the subject line “Foundations refund”. Tell us the date of purchase and confirm that you would like to claim the 30-day guarantee. You do not need to give a reason.
We will process the refund within 14 days of receiving your request, to the original payment method. We will email you to confirm when the refund has been issued.
The guarantee applies even if you have already accessed the course content (because Foundations is delivered immediately and most learners begin within the first few days). It does not apply after 30 days, and it does not stack with any later partial refund of subsequent products.
The 14-day cooling-off period in section 3 applies. Where Business Model Design includes immediately-delivered digital content, the digital-content waiver in section 3.1 may apply. Where it includes scheduled coaching sessions, the services exception in section 3.2 may apply.
We do not currently offer a voluntary money-back guarantee on Business Model Design beyond the statutory right.
The 14-day cooling-off period in section 3 applies to your initial Membership purchase. If you cancel within 14 days of your first payment and you have not used the membership benefits in any substantive way, we will refund the amount you have paid in full. If you have started using membership benefits during the cooling-off period (logged in to gated content, attended a session, downloaded a workbook), section 3.2 may apply and we may retain a fair amount for the value already delivered.
You can cancel a Full Membership or Premium Membership at any time after the cooling-off period from your account settings, or by emailing refunds@thestartuprace.com.
When you cancel, your membership benefits continue until the end of the period you have already paid for. We do not refund the period that has already been billed. We do not bill you for any subsequent period.
For Full Membership (£99 per month), this means cancelling on (for example) day 20 of a billing cycle gives you continued access to day 30, with no further charges.
For Premium Membership (£99 per week), this means cancelling on (for example) day 4 of a billing cycle gives you continued access to day 7, with no further charges.
If a recurring payment fails, we will notify you by email and try the payment again over the next five working days. If it still fails, your membership benefits are paused until payment is made. If payment is not made within fourteen days of the original failed attempt, the membership is cancelled and we may pursue any outstanding amount as a debt.
Race entry is participation in a structured 52-week competition with cohort dynamics, a published league table, and continuous-evidence data that informs decisions made by other racers and by the angel investors observing the cohort. The terms below reflect that.
The 14-day cooling-off period in section 3 applies. If you withdraw from a cohort before it starts (or within 14 days of confirming your entry, whichever is later), we will refund all payments made under the entry contract in full, using the same payment method you used to enter.
Once the cohort is live and you have been added to the league table, no refund is given for any subsequent month, and the entry contract continues for the remainder of the 52-week cohort. This is because:
If you wish to stop active participation in the Race after the cohort has started, you remain liable for the monthly entry fee for the remaining months. We will continue to record your data on the league table where you make it available, and you remain eligible for any prize or progression that the league table awards.
If you face exceptional circumstances during the cohort (for example, serious illness or insolvency of your business) and you wish to discuss exiting the Race, contact us at refunds@thestartuprace.com. We are not obliged to issue a refund in those circumstances, but we will discuss in good faith whether a partial credit, a deferral to a future cohort, or another solution is workable. Any concession we offer is at our discretion and is not a precedent.
The Refund and Cancellation Policy below applies to all four endorsement programmes: the Virtual Innovation Programme, the New Endorsement Letter Programme, the New Business Coaching Programme, and the Endorsement Readiness Services. Where any individual programme has its own Terms and Conditions document (the New Business Coaching Programme already does), the product-specific terms govern in case of conflict.
The 14-day cooling-off period in section 3 applies. If you cancel before the first scheduled session has taken place, and you have not waived the cooling-off period in writing, we will refund the full programme fee within 14 days of receiving your cancellation request.
Given the time-sensitive nature of immigration matters, you may wish to begin the programme before the 14-day cooling-off period ends. If you ask us in writing to start the programme early, and you book and attend the first session within the cooling-off window, the statutory right to cancel is lost from the moment the first session takes place.
After the first session has taken place, no refund of the programme fee or any part of it is given. This applies regardless of whether:
This position is documented for the New Business Coaching Programme in the existing Terms and Conditions for that programme, and applies on the same basis to the other three endorsement programmes.
We reserve the right to cancel an endorsement programme before the first session if, in our reasonable opinion, the programme is not suitable for your situation. In that event, we will refund the full programme fee.
Nothing in our endorsement programmes constitutes immigration legal advice. We are not a firm of solicitors, a regulated immigration adviser, or a member of the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner. Decisions about your visa application, Administrative Review, Judicial Review, and timing of any application to UK Visas and Immigration must be made with the advice of your immigration solicitor. The refund position above is not affected by any decision your solicitor advises you to take that conflicts with the timing or content of the programme.
To claim a refund or cancel a contract under any section of this policy:
If you have a complaint about how we have handled a refund request, see section 11.
Where a refund is due, we process it within 14 days of receiving your request, to the original payment method used at purchase. Card refunds are typically visible on your statement within 3 to 10 working days of being processed; bank transfers within 1 to 3 working days. Timing of receipt depends on your bank or card issuer and is outside our control.
We do not refund to a payment method other than the one used at purchase, except where the original method is no longer available (for example, a closed bank account). In that case, contact us and we will arrange an alternative.
We do not charge a refund fee. Where third-party payment processors (Stripe, Authorize.Net) charge their own non-refundable fees on a transaction, those fees are absorbed by us; the full amount you paid is what you receive back.
If you initiate a chargeback through your card issuer rather than contacting us first, we may pause delivery of your programme or membership pending the outcome of the chargeback. Where a chargeback is decided in our favour, your contract continues. Where it is decided in your favour, your contract is treated as cancelled from the date of the chargeback.
If you are not satisfied with how we have handled a refund request, please email refunds@thestartuprace.com setting out what you would like us to do differently. We will acknowledge the complaint within five working days and respond substantively within 20 working days.
If you remain unsatisfied after that, you may have recourse to:
Nothing in this policy excludes or limits your right to seek redress through the courts.
We may update this Refund and Cancellation Policy from time to time. The version in force at the date of your purchase is the version that applies to that purchase. Updated versions will be published on this page with an updated effective date. Where the change is significant, we will let you know by email or by a prominent notice on our websites.
For any refund or cancellation question:
For any privacy-related question, see the Privacy Policy. For complaints handling generally, see section 11.
This form satisfies the model cancellation form requirement under Schedule 3 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. You may use this form to cancel a contract within the 14-day cooling-off period. You do not have to use this form: any clear written statement of your intent to cancel will do.
To: The Startup Race Ltd By email: refunds@thestartuprace.com By post: Orchard Brae House, Care of MBM Commercial, 30 Queensferry Road, Edinburgh, EH4 2HS
I hereby give notice that I cancel my contract for the supply of the following service:
| Field | Your details |
|---|---|
| Product or programme purchased | |
| Date of purchase | |
| Order or transaction reference (if known) | |
| Your full name | |
| Your address | |
| Your email at the time of purchase | |
| Date of this cancellation request | |
| Signature (only if returning by post) |
(You do not need to give a reason.)