AI labs
Frontier labs buy company records directly. Google agreed to pay $10 million for Spirit Airlines’ internal data [4], and Reddit’s licenses reportedly bring in about $60 million a year from Google [6].
Data licensing for companies
Sell your company’s data to AI labs, on your terms.
Ashgrove Data values your company’s data, clears the rights, de-identifies it and licenses it to AI labs and data buyers. Slack and email archives, support history, recordings and video all have buyers. You keep ownership unless you choose to sell.
- Deals closed
- 147
- Paid out to data owners
- $23.7M
- Datasets valued
- 1,186
- Active buyers in our network
- 63
- Median days to first offer
- 19
Valuation
What is your company’s data worth?
Operating companies with 30 or more employees are being offered more than $100,000 for de-identified operational data, and more than $1 million when it is large or unusual [3]. Google agreed to pay $10 million for Spirit Airlines’ internal records [4]. Closed startups’ archives typically sell for $10,000 to $100,000 [2]. Describe your company for an indicative range.
Evidence
What AI labs license, and what it pays
There is no public price list for AI training data, and most contracts are confidential [6]. These are the published benchmarks the calculator is calibrated to.
| Data | What counts | Published benchmark | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating company data | Chat, email, tickets, SOPs, CRM, project history; 30+ employees | More than $100,000 per qualified partnership; more than $500,000 for large datasets; more than $1M for highly unique data | [3] |
| Shut-down company archives | Slack, email and Jira from closed startups | $10,000 to $100,000 typical, across about 100 sales | [2] |
| Enterprise archive | Spirit Airlines: email, Teams, files, tickets, code since 2008 | $10M agreed by Google (bids from $5M); about 100M emails and 500M chat messages | [5] |
| Video footage | Recorded footage you own the rights to | $1.05 to $6.20 per minute (median $2.65), across 29 deals | [1] |
| Recorded speech | Calls, meetings, interviews, podcasts | $22 to $141 per hour of transcribed speech (median $58), across 17 deals | [1] |
| Images and photographs | Product, field or archive imagery | $0.41 to $3.48 per image (median $1.12), across 38 deals | [1] |
| Published articles | News, research notes, editorial archives | $0.18 to $1.30 per article (median $0.46), across 14 deals | [1] |
| Books and long-form titles | Titles you hold the rights to | $1,850 to $9,600 per title (median $4,300), across 21 deals | [1] |
Media ranges are the middle half of reported deals (interquartile range). Operational-data figures are published program tiers, typical payouts and a court-supervised sale.
Process
How a data sale works
Selling company data to an AI lab takes five steps: inventory, a rights check, de-identification, valuation with buyers, and a signed license.
Step 1
Inventory
We list what you hold: which systems (Slack, email, Jira, CRM, recordings), how many years, how many people, and in what format. This is what a buyer reads first.
Step 2
Rights check
We confirm the company owns the data and that your customer contracts and the privacy notices in force when it was collected allow licensing. Data that fails this check is not offered.
Step 3
De-identification
Names, emails, phone numbers and other identifiers are removed or replaced before anything is shared. Free text such as chat and email needs more than find-and-replace, because people can be identified from context.
Step 4
Valuation and buyers
We price the dataset against published deal data and take it to the buyers who pay most for that type, so you are not negotiating with a single buyer.
Step 5
License and payment
You sign a license that sets the use, term, exclusivity and price. A non-exclusive license leaves you free to license the same data again.
Terms
Licensing or selling
Licensing gives a buyer the right to use your data on set terms while you keep ownership. A non-exclusive license can be granted to several buyers, so the same archive can earn more than once.
Selling transfers ownership for a single payment. Exclusive licenses usually command a premium because the buyer gets data no competitor has.
Law
Is it legal to sell company data?
Usually, when the company owns the data, its contracts and the privacy notices in force at collection allow it, and personal information is removed or consented.
GDPR, the CCPA and sector rules such as HIPAA set the conditions. This is general information, not legal advice; we work alongside your counsel.
Market
Who buys company data
Four kinds of buyer pay for company data today. Ashgrove Data prepares your data once and takes it to the ones that pay most for its type.
AI data companies
micro1 says it will spend $1 billion in 12 months licensing operational data from companies with 30 or more employees [3]. Mercor bid $7.5 million for the Spirit records [5].
Data marketplaces
Snowflake Marketplace, AWS Data Exchange, Databricks Marketplace and Datarade list datasets for buyers to license. They reach many buyers but leave pricing and preparation to you.
Wind-down buyers
When a company closes, its archive can still be sold. SimpleClosure reported about 100 such sales of Slack, email and Jira archives, typically for $10,000 to $100,000 [2].
Questions
Questions founders ask
Where can I sell my company's data?
You can license it directly to AI labs, to AI data companies such as micro1 and Mercor that build training environments, list it on a marketplace such as Snowflake Marketplace or Datarade, or work with a broker that prepares it and finds buyers. Ashgrove Data does the last: we value, de-identify and place your data with the buyers that pay most for its type.
How much is my company's data worth?
It depends mostly on company size, years of history and how many systems the records span. Operating companies with 30 or more employees are offered more than $100,000, rising past $1 million for large or unusual datasets [3]. Closed startups’ archives typically sell for $10,000 to $100,000 [2], and Google agreed to pay $10 million for Spirit Airlines’ records [4]. The calculator on this page gives an indicative range.
Do AI companies pay for training data?
Yes. At least 312 AI training data licensing agreements were signed between January 2023 and September 2026 [1], and micro1 alone has committed $1 billion over 12 months to buying company operational data [3].
Is it legal to sell company data?
Usually, if the company owns the data, its contracts and the privacy notices in force when the data was collected allow it, and personal information is removed or consented. GDPR, the CCPA and sector rules such as HIPAA set the conditions. This is general information, not legal advice; we work alongside your counsel.
Is it safe to sell company data to AI?
It is safe when identifiers are removed before anything is shared and the license limits how the data may be used. Chat and email need the most care, because people can be identified from context even after names are removed.
What is the difference between licensing and selling data?
Licensing grants a buyer the right to use your data on set terms while you keep ownership, so a non-exclusive license can be granted to several buyers. Selling transfers ownership for a single payment. Exclusive licenses usually command a premium because the buyer gets data no competitor has.
What data do AI labs want most?
Records of how work actually gets done: standard operating procedures, knowledge bases, CRM data, project histories, QA processes and the conversations behind decisions [3]. Labs use them to build training environments where AI agents practice real business workflows.
My company is shutting down. Can I still sell its data?
Often yes, and it is one of the most common cases: one wind-down firm reported about 100 sales of closed companies’ archives [2], and Google agreed to pay $10 million for the bankrupt Spirit Airlines’ records [4]. Act before systems are deleted, and check what your privacy policy promised users.
Next step
Request a valuation
Tell us what you have. We reply with what it is likely worth, who would buy it, and what has to happen first.
Sources
- [1] AI Industry Reviews, “AI Training Data Licensing Deal Statistics: 2026 Report”, 6 October 2026. 312 licensing agreements signed January 2023 to September 2026; per-unit prices are medians and interquartile ranges from deals that disclosed unit pricing.
- [2] Forbes (Anna Tong), “AI's New Training Data: Your Old Work Slacks And Emails”, 16 April 2026. SimpleClosure reported about 100 sales of shut-down companies’ Slack, email and Jira archives, typically paying $10,000 to $100,000 each; a rival wind-down firm said price depends on company size, age and how rich the data is.
- [3] The Next Web, “micro1 commits $1bn to company data for AI agents, financed by Citi”, 9 October 2026. micro1 plans to spend $1 billion in 12 months licensing operational data from companies with 30 or more employees: more than $100,000 per qualified partnership, more than $500,000 for large or multi-team datasets, more than $1 million for highly unique data. Companies keep ownership.
- [4] Reuters, “Google to buy Spirit Airlines business data for $10 million”, 17 August 2026. Google agreed to pay $10 million for internal business data from the bankrupt airline, de-identified before transfer, to improve its products and AI models.
- [5] The Next Web, “Google picked and paid for the firm anonymising the Spirit Airlines data”, 18 August 2026. The package: about 100 million emails, 500 million Teams messages, SharePoint and OneDrive files, IT tickets and 516 code repositories, with records back to 2008. Bids: Google opened at $5 million, Mercor reached $7.5 million, Google won at $10 million.
- [6] Troveo, “AI Training Data Cost: What Buyers Actually Pay”, 27 August 2026. There is no public price list for AI training data and most contracts are confidential; Reddit’s licences reportedly bring in about $60 million a year from Google and $70 million a year from OpenAI.