Who buys company data for AI? Published terms, compared.
Eight programmes that license companies' working records to AI developers: what each buys, what it advertises, who qualifies and how it pays. Every figure is the buyer's own published wording, checked on 30 October 2026. Advertised ranges are not offers.
| Buyer | What it licenses | Advertised pay | Who qualifies | How it pays | Referral reward | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| micro1 | SOPs, internal documentation, knowledge bases, CRM, project histories, team chat | $200k–$2m+ (advertised headline); payments "typically ranging from $150K to over $2M" | 30+ employees, operating mainly in English. Strongest demand from US, UK and Canadian companies. Data is licensed only to buyers in the US and allied countries. | Reviews data within 30 days of transfer, then pays in full within 30 days. | $50,000 for deals up to $700k, or 7.5% above (Enterprise); $75,000 for deals up to $1m, or 7.5% above, for defunct companies. Paid at milestones after micro1 approves the data. | micro1 data partnerships micro1 referrals |
| Handshake AI | Operational data from the tools a company runs on (Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Google Drive, Notion, QuickBooks and others) | $100k–$4m (advertised: "depending on the data") | 20+ full-time employees and 3+ years in operation. | Scoped up front, covered by an NDA, de-identified before use. | $10,000, paid when the deal closes | Handshake AI programme (Apr 2026) Handshake AI licence page |
| Turing (Project Lazarus) | Codebases and the wider operating record: communications, tickets, wikis, code with reviews | A single payment of up to $1m (advertised) | Operating and winding-down companies. Value scales with how complete, rare and well preserved the record is. | One payment, confirmed after sampling, usually within a week. | Up to $10,000 | Turing Project Lazarus |
| AfterQuery | Records of how teams work: email, chat, tickets, CRM, support, finance, usually over several years | No range published | Established companies with several teams across several systems and a few years of history. Operating, winding-down and closed companies are all welcome. | Mutual NDA and a short questionnaire first; replies within three business days. | Up to $85,000 | AfterQuery data partnerships |
| Scale AI | Structured, de-identified records from the systems a company already runs | $10k–$1m+ (described as an illustrative value per partnership, scaling with cadence) | Assessed case by case. | Partnerships are designed so there's an opportunity for recurring revenue. | Up to $50,000, only if Scale signs a partnership | Scale AI data partnerships |
| Labelbox Prism | Operational data from Slack, Jira, Salesforce, email, CRMs and internal tools | From about $50k for targeted datasets to $1m+ for large partnerships (advertised) | No minimum published. Says distressed and wound-down companies are among its most active sellers. | Upfront licence fee at signing plus a revenue share. Exclusive by default; a kill clause forces deletion within 30 days in set circumstances. | None published | Labelbox Prism FAQs |
| Mercor | Slack, Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Confluence, Salesforce, GitHub, Notion and 100+ other tools | No overall range. Sector listings show company payouts from about $20k to $1.1m, and Mercor says $50m+ has been paid to companies. "The more tools you share, the higher your payout" | No minimum published. | Mercor covers extraction costs and pays by wire on delivery, typically 2–4 weeks after signing. | Up to $100,000 | Mercor data Mercor referrals |
| Troveo (marketplace) | Company data exports, licensed on the owner's behalf to many buyers | "Six figures" for company data exports (advertised); $20m+ paid to licensors across all data types | Companies that own their data. Value scales with systems, team size and years of history. | Licenses on terms the owner approves and pays on every later sale; takes no fees from sellers. | – | Troveo business data Troveo: who buys company data |
Scroll the table sideways on a phone. Terms change often, so check each buyer's page before relying on a figure. Where a buyer publishes nothing, we say so.
The headline figure is the least useful column.
Two offers with the same headline can be worth very different amounts.
Exclusivity
Some programmes are exclusive by default. An exclusive licence can pay more, but it closes the door to every other buyer.
Payment shape
One payment, an upfront fee plus a revenue share, or payment on delivery: each spreads the risk differently.
Where the data goes
micro1 licenses only to US and allied buyers. Ask every buyer where the data will be used and by whom.
We act for the seller, not the buyer.
We don't run a buying programme. We represent UK companies and insolvency practitioners, aim to put the same unnamed profile in front of several buyers at once, and compare their terms side by side. We're paid only by our client, from money they receive, and any reward a buyer offers on their deal is disclosed and passed to them. We haven't completed any deals yet; we're signing our first sellers now. Record Yield isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of these companies.
Before you contact a buyer
- List your systems and how many years each covers.
- Check customer contracts for confidentiality clauses.
- Decide what stays out: HR, health and privileged material.
- Plan to de-identify inside your own systems first.