Terms of Service

1. Eligibility and accounts

You must be a legitimate business operating in a supported city and authorized to bind that business to these Terms. You are responsible for the accuracy of your profile and for all activity under your account. Keep your credentials secure; notify us at hello@hypher.ai of any unauthorized use.

Membership is by invitation and approval. Hypher may decline any application, invitation, or pledge at its discretion, for any reason or no reason, and is not required to explain its decision.

2. Subscription, fees, and billing

Membership is a recurring subscription billed monthly in advance, per business location, through our payment processor (Stripe), at the rate published for your market, presently $49.00 (USD) per month in Rapid City, South Dakota. Where you joined by pledge before your market opened, billing begins as described in “Pre-launch pledges” below rather than at signup. Your subscription renews automatically each month until you cancel. Apart from the subscription fee and applicable taxes, Hypher charges no other amount: no transaction fee, commission, success fee, per-referral fee, placement fee, or percentage of your sales.

Fees are exclusive of taxes. You are responsible for all applicable sales, use, excise, and similar taxes arising from your subscription, other than taxes on Hypher’s net income. Where Hypher is required to collect such taxes, they are calculated based on your location, added to each charge, and shown as a separate line on your receipt. Your stated subscription price does not include tax.

An annual option may be offered in some markets, paid once for twelve months at the annual rate published for your market, presently $490.00 (USD) per year in Rapid City, South Dakota, against $49.00 per month. You may switch from monthly to annual at any time from your dashboard. If you switch mid-month, the unused part of the month you have already paid for is credited against the annual amount automatically, and the twelve months run from the day you switch.

You may cancel at any time from your dashboard. Cancellation stops all future billing; your membership remains active through the end of the period you have paid for and does not renew. Fees already paid are non-refundable, and we do not provide refunds or credits for partial periods, except where required by law. On an annual subscription this means cancelling does not refund the remaining months: your membership, and your category, continue until the anniversary date and then end. That is the trade for the annual rate, and it is the reason the annual rate is lower.

Switching from annual back to monthly takes effect at your renewal date rather than immediately, since the annual period has already been paid. Contact us and we will arrange it.

Payment by invoice is available by arrangement rather than by default. Where Hypher has agreed it with you, no card or bank detail is stored: our payment processor issues an invoice, sends it to the email address on your account, and you pay it by card or bank transfer from the hosted invoice page. Invoices are issued in advance of the period they cover and are due on the date stated on the invoice. An unpaid invoice may lead to suspension under “Quality standards, suspension, and removal” below. Everything else in this section (the rate, the taxes, the notice period for price changes, and the cancellation terms) applies to invoiced membership in the same way.

A limited free trial may be offered in some launch markets before billing begins; where it is, we will state the trial length and collect a payment method before the first charge. A founding rate, if offered, locks the stated price for your account for as long as your subscription remains continuously active, subject to the specific terms of that offer.

Hypher may change subscription pricing on at least 30 days’ advance notice by email or in-product notice, with the new price taking effect at the start of your next billing period. If you do not accept a new price, you may cancel before it takes effect. This paragraph does not override a founding rate lock for an account that holds one; such an account continues on the terms of that offer.

3. Pre-launch pledges

Hypher opens a market only once enough businesses have committed to make the network worth joining. Before a market opens, membership is offered as a pledge rather than a subscription.

When you pledge, you reserve a category in your city and, in most cases, provide a payment method. No amount is charged at that time, no subscription is created, and no free trial begins. The payment method is stored with our payment processor (Stripe) and is not visible to Hypher.

Where Hypher has agreed invoiced billing with you, you reserve your category without providing any payment method and none is collected at any point in the pledge. Your first invoice is issued in advance of the first billing date rather than charged on it. The amount shown to you when you reserved is recorded with your pledge and governs it. The dates are recorded there too, and are updated if they change as described below.

Your subscription begins on the day your market goes live. Rapid City, South Dakota is scheduled to open on November 15, 2026, and may open earlier if every category fills first. Membership is then free for three months, and the first charge is made on February 15, 2027 at the rate published for your market, plus applicable tax. The price shown to you when you pledged is recorded with your pledge and governs it. The dates are recorded there too, and are updated if they change as described below.

You may withdraw at any time before the first charge, for any reason, at no cost and with nothing owed. Withdrawing releases your reserved category, which may then be offered to another business. To withdraw, email hello@hypher.ai from the address on your pledge, or cancel from your dashboard once your account is active.

Hypher may release a pledge at any time before the first charge, at its discretion. Nothing is charged, any stored payment method is detached, and the category may be offered to another business.

A pledge does not guarantee that a market will open on the scheduled date, that it will open at all, or that any particular number of businesses will join it. If Hypher decides not to open a market, pledges for that market are released and no charge is made. If the launch date or the free period changes, we will tell you by email before any charge, and you may withdraw.

Before your market opens, your business page is not published and is not publicly reachable. Where a physical Hypher card has been issued to you, scanning it shows that you are a founding partner and the launch date, and begins working normally when the market opens.

4. Category availability and exclusivity

Membership is sold by category within a city, and each category holds a limited number of businesses. Some categories hold one business only. When a category is full we cannot accept another business into it at any price, and we will offer you a waitlist place instead.

Hypher assigns the category for each member and may reclassify a business where its category is inaccurate, giving notice before doing so. Many businesses genuinely operate across more than one category; a member whose work incidentally overlaps another category is not a breach of any other member’s place, and only a member whose assigned primary category is the same one occupies that place. Where you want more than one category, each is a separate place and is charged separately.

A place is held for as long as the member occupying it keeps an active subscription and an active listing. When a subscription ends, or a listing is suspended or removed under these Terms, the place is released and may be offered to another business, including anyone on the waitlist for it.

Where Hypher has told you in writing that your category is exclusive, that statement is limited to the category and city stated and to the period your subscription remains continuously active. It is not a promise about any other city, any other category, any category Hypher later divides or renames, or any activity outside Hypher. If Hypher admits another business whose assigned primary category is the same as yours in the same city while your subscription is active, your sole remedy is a pro-rated credit of the fees you paid for the period during which that was the case.

Category definitions, and the number of places in each, may change as a market develops. Where a change reduces the places in your category, it does not affect a place you already occupy.

5. No payments between businesses

The subscription is the only money Hypher collects. Hypher never facilitates, holds, or settles payments between Members, pays no per-referral compensation, and operates no reward pool. Each Member keeps 100% of its own sales. Hypher is not a payment processor, escrow agent, or money transmitter with respect to referral activity.

6. Your page and referrals

You are solely responsible for the content you publish on your Hypher page, including its accuracy, legality, and any offer or claim you make there. Content must be genuine, currently available, and clearly described.

Referral credit is attributed by scan sequence: when a customer scans your card and then scans another partner, you are credited with that referral. Credit is counted once per customer per destination. Hypher does not guarantee any volume of referrals, visits, revenue, or foot traffic.

7. Offers, claims, and redemption

You decide what to offer, and you may change or withdraw an offer at any time. An offer a customer has already claimed is honoured as it stood when they claimed it: the wording is recorded against their claim and is not altered by a later edit.

A customer claims an offer on your page, which starts a time limit you set, and marks it used themselves on their own device when they are with you. Hypher does not verify that a redemption happened, and staff are not required to sign in to anything. This means redemption counts are reported by customers rather than observed by us, and you should treat them as such, including where they feed the estimated figures described below.

Offers must be genuine, available on the terms stated, and lawful. Do not advertise an offer you will not honour, and do not state a limit or deadline that is not real.

8. Estimated revenue is an estimate

Any revenue or value figure Hypher shows you is an estimate derived from a typical-spend amount you provide. Hypher does not connect to your point-of-sale and does not measure actual sales. These figures are directional indicators of program value, not a record of money earned, and must not be relied upon as accounting data.

9. Hypher-supplied materials

Hypher supplies Members with branded materials to display at their place of business: adhesive window decals, counter cards bearing a scannable code, framed counter displays, and printed informational materials. These materials are supplied as part of your subscription at no separate charge, and Hypher charges no fee for producing, delivering, placing, or replacing them. Materials are produced in Hypher’s standard formats to Hypher’s own specifications; Hypher does not design or customize materials to a Member’s specification.

Hypher-supplied materials, and the codes printed on them, remain the property of Hypher. They are assigned to your business for your use while your membership is active. You may not transfer, duplicate, resell, or obscure them.

If your membership ends, the codes are deactivated and a scanned card’s page will show a neutral notice that your business is no longer a Hypher partner. On termination you will stop displaying Hypher-supplied materials and, on request, remove or return them.

10. Reviews and customer conduct

After a customer scans your card and checks in, they may be prompted to leave you a public rating. This prompt is shown to every checking-in customer without any sentiment screening. Leaving a rating requires a free customer account, so every rating is attached to one; a customer who has set a display name or photo has them shown alongside it, to you and to anyone reading your page. You may not condition, gate, incentivize, or filter ratings based on their expected or actual score, and you must comply with applicable law (including FTC guidance on endorsements).

A rating is the customer’s own statement. Hypher does not edit, reorder, or remove ratings at a business’s request, and does not remove one for being unfavourable. We remove a rating only where it breaches these Terms or the law.

11. Acceptable use and network integrity

You agree not to: generate fake or self-dealing referrals; manipulate rankings, tiers, or leaderboards; record scans or check-ins without a genuine customer visit; scrape or misuse the service; upload unlawful, infringing, or misleading content; or interfere with other Members or the operation of the network.

12. Quality standards, suspension, and removal

The "Hypher Partner" mark is a trust signal. Admission is earnable and standing is losable. We may vet, suspend, or remove a Member, or remove content, for violations of these Terms, low-quality or deceptive offers, customer complaints, or conduct that harms the network’s integrity. Where practical we will give notice, but we may act immediately to protect customers or Members.

13. Intellectual property

Hypher retains all rights in the service, the Hypher marks, and the software. You grant Hypher a non-exclusive license to display your business name, logo, description, offers, and location on public Hypher surfaces (business pages, directory, map, city and category hubs) to operate and promote the network. You represent that you have the rights to the content you provide.

14. AI-assisted content

Hypher may offer tools that draft profile or offer copy from information you supply. You remain responsible for reviewing and approving all such content before it is published; nothing is published on your behalf without your approval.

15. Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Hypher does not warrant uninterrupted or error-free operation or any particular business outcome.

16. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Hypher will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or goodwill. Hypher’s total liability arising out of or relating to the service will not exceed the amount you paid Hypher in the 12 months preceding the claim, or $100 (USD) if you paid nothing.

17. Indemnification

You will indemnify and hold harmless Hypher from claims arising out of your page content, any offer or claim you publish, your interactions with customers, or your breach of these Terms.

18. Term and termination

These Terms apply while you use the service. You may cancel at any time through your account or the customer portal; cancellation stops future billing but does not refund fees already paid except where required by law. On termination, your public pages and card are deactivated. You may export your data before or after termination as described in the Privacy Policy.

Hypher may suspend or end your membership at any time, with or without cause, including where Hypher reasonably believes your participation could harm customers, other Members, or trust in the Hypher Partner mark. If Hypher ends your membership other than for your breach of these Terms, we will refund the unused part of any period you have paid for.

19. Customers and customer accounts

Customers use Hypher to discover local businesses and check in by scanning cards. No account is required to browse or check in. Customers may optionally create a free account (email, with a passwordless emailed code by default) to claim offers, follow businesses, leave ratings, and receive updates. A customer may add a display name and a photo, which are shown publicly alongside any rating they leave. Customer use of Hypher is governed by the Privacy Policy and any terms presented at the point of account creation; customers may unsubscribe, unfollow, or delete their account at any time.

Customer contact details belong to the customer, not to you and not to Hypher. Where Hypher makes it possible to reach the customers who follow your business, those messages are sent through Hypher and are subject to the customer’s unsubscribe and unfollow choices, and to limits we set on how often any business may send and how often any customer may be contacted. You may not export, copy, retain, sell, or upload customer contact details to any other system, and you may not contact a customer who has unsubscribed. Availability of this capability is not guaranteed and may be offered as a paid feature.

20. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be communicated by email or in-product notice. Continued use after the effective date of a change constitutes acceptance.

21. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. You consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in the state and federal courts located in Wyoming for any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the service. Jurisdiction in those courts is non-exclusive: Hypher may also bring an action in any other court having jurisdiction over you, including the courts of the state where your business is located.

22. General

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any offer terms Hypher presents to you, are the entire agreement between you and Hypher regarding the service and supersede any prior or contemporaneous understanding on the subject. If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions will remain in full force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it.

Hypher may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets. You may not assign or transfer these Terms without Hypher’s prior written consent, and any attempted assignment without that consent is void. These Terms bind and benefit the parties’ permitted successors and assigns.

Notices to you will be sent to the email address on your account and are effective when sent; notices to Hypher must be sent to hello@hypher.ai. Neither party is liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond its reasonable control.

You and Hypher are independent contractors. Nothing in these Terms creates an agency, partnership, joint venture, employment, or franchise relationship between us. Hypher facilitates referrals between Members and is not a party to, and bears no responsibility for, any transaction between you and your customers or between you and another Member.

23. Contact

Questions about these Terms: Hypher Inc., hello@hypher.ai.