Who buys company data for AI: buyers, aggregators and brokers

What are the four kinds of program?

Programs that pay for company data describe themselves in different words: partnerships, licensing, data assets. We sort them by what they do with the data and who pays whom, because that is what changes your position. These are the four kinds we use on the tracker.

Kind	What it does	Who pays the company
Buyer	Licenses data for its own AI training and evaluation work	The buyer
Aggregator	Pays the company, then licenses the data on to AI labs	The aggregator
Broker	Introduces companies to buyers for a fee	The buyer, directly
Closure marketplace	Finds licensees or purchasers for the assets of closing companies, data included	Proceeds pass through the marketplace

Buyers sign with you, pay you and use the data for their own work. Aggregators also pay you, but their business is licensing your data on to AI labs, and their structures differ: Endless Data agrees a fixed sum, Polyshares pays a single agreed amount and Turing pays a share of each license. Brokers never pay you; the buyer they introduce does. SellData.ai works the same way at this level: we introduce companies to buyers, and the buyer pays us. Closure marketplaces such as SimpleClosure AssetHub focus on closing companies and can arrange a license or an outright sale.

Which programs pay for company data today?

These are the nine programs on our tracker as of November 7, 2026. Each line is ours and stays within what the program publishes; program pages have every field with sources.

Program	Kind	In one line
micro1	Aggregator	Company Data Partnerships program for established companies, licensing to labs and enterprises in the US and allied countries, with a separate track for companies that are no longer operating
Handshake AI	Buyer	Data Partnerships program for AI training and evaluation, separate from its Fellowship expert program
Mercor	Aggregator	Connects to company tools, de-identifies the data and licenses it to frontier AI labs
Polyshares	Aggregator	Licenses the operational record of operating companies, de-identifies it through a PII partner and offers it to AI buyers through its own portal
Endless Data	Aggregator	Pays operating companies a fixed sum and licenses the records to AI labs it names as micro1, Mercor and Handshake
Turing (Project Lazarus)	Aggregator	Prepares a company record from exports, licenses it to buyers and pays the company a share of each license
SimpleClosure AssetHub	Closure marketplace	Licenses source code and workspace data, or arranges an outright sale, for closing and operating companies
Korra	Broker	Lists de-identified cards for company records and introduces companies to buyers, who contract with them directly
AIData.Broker	Broker	Free valuations and introductions, a success fee on deals it runs, and payment from the buyer straight to the data holder

Where does your data end up with each kind?

The kind decides who holds a copy after the deal. That matters more than the headline number, because once a model has been trained on a copy, deleting the copy does not undo the training.

Kind	You sign with	Who ends up with a copy
Buyer	The buyer	The buyer, plus any third parties its agreement allows
Aggregator	The aggregator	The aggregator and its customers, which can be several AI labs
Broker	The buyer the broker introduces	The buyer you choose; the broker holds no data
Closure marketplace	Set in each deal	The licensee or purchaser you approve

Buyer. Handshake AI says use is restricted by contract to AI model training and evaluation (source). Being a buyer does not by itself mean the data stays with the buyer, so read the sharing and resale clauses.

Aggregator. Licensing on to others is the business model. micro1 says data is licensed to labs and enterprises in the US and allied countries, that personal and identifying information is removed or transformed before sharing with third parties, and that its contract commits it not to resell until the data is anonymized (source). Mercor says no AI lab buyer or third-party vendor sees your raw data; the de-identified version is what reaches labs (source). Turing pays you from each license, so a revenue share rewards more licensees, which also means more copies (source). Polyshares says its licenses are exclusive by default unless agreed otherwise (source); Endless Data says its licenses are non-exclusive (source). Endless Data names micro1, Mercor and Handshake as the labs it licenses to, so the same records can pass through more than one program on this list. Its buyer terms also let its customers keep models trained during the term after the data is deleted (source).

Broker. A broker sits outside the data flow. Korra says it does not prepare or deliver records, and that the company and the buyer agree how records move (source). AIData.Broker says its valuation sends counts only and that the data holder or its provider delivers data to the buyer (source). Your data ends up with whichever buyer you sign with, under that buyer’s terms.

Closure marketplace. SimpleClosure says assets reach buyers only with the owner’s approval, and that it handles matching, documentation and distribution of proceeds (source). It offers a license, where you keep the assets, or an outright sale, where you do not.

How are brokers and advisors paid?

There are three ways, and some intermediaries use more than one.

1. A referral fee from the program. Most programs on the tracker pay people who introduce companies. The program pays this fee, and none of the programs we track publishes a lower payment for referred companies.
2. A success fee from the company. AIData.Broker makes introductions for free. For deals it runs, it charges 12% of the first $250,000, 10% up to $1 million, 8% up to $3 million and 6% above, with no fee if nothing closes (source). SimpleClosure takes a percentage only on success and does not publish the percentage (source).
3. A fee from the buyer on top of the price. Korra’s buyer agreement sets a 10% facilitation fee that the buyer pays on top of the price, not out of it. Its company-facing FAQ says the fee depends on the deal and is agreed in writing (source).

What each program publishes about paying referrers:

Program	Referral program	Published amount
micro1	Yes	Operating companies: $50,000 for deals up to $700,000, or 7.5% above. Defunct companies: $75,000 for deals up to $1M, or 7.5% above (source)
Handshake AI	Yes	$10K per successful referral (source)
Turing (Project Lazarus)	Yes	Up to $50K; calculation not published (source)
Mercor	Yes	Up to $100,000 per company; listings show $15,000 to $85,000 (source)
Polyshares	A broker role at sign-up (source)	Not published
SimpleClosure	An affiliate program	Up to $1,000 per deal for its shutdown services; whether AssetHub deals count is not stated (source)
AIData.Broker	Yes, for introducers	One third of what AIData.Broker earns, for 12 months (source)
Korra	Yes	Its partner terms bar partners from stating earnings, so we do not show them
Endless Data	None found	Not applicable

SellData.ai is paid by buyers only. When a company we introduce signs with a program, that program pays us a referral fee under its own referral terms. Companies pay us nothing, we never receive or handle data, and we are not a party to the license. Fees differ between programs, which is a conflict of interest. We manage it by publishing every program’s terms with sources, comparing all programs that fit, and saying so when none does. How we get paid.

The FTC’s Endorsement Guides say a connection between someone recommending a product and the company behind it that could affect how much weight people give the recommendation, such as being paid for it, should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously (16 CFR 255.5). micro1’s referral terms require referrers to disclose the relationship and compensation (source), and AIData.Broker asks introducers to tell clients in writing that they are paid (source). If anyone recommends a program to you, ask whether that program pays them.

How can you tell them apart?

Labels on websites are not a reliable guide. A quick test: if the party pays you itself, it is a buyer or an aggregator, and the next question is whether it licenses your data on to others. If it never touches the money, it is a broker or advisor, and the next question is who pays it.

Questions worth asking any program or intermediary:

Question	Why it matters
Who pays us, and on what trigger?	Payment on signing, delivery and acceptance are different promises
Who else will receive a copy, now or later?	Tells you whether you are dealing with a buyer or an aggregator
Do you take any part of our price?	Success fees and buyer-side fees change what you net
Do you hold our data or our money at any point?	Brokers like Korra and AIData.Broker say they hold neither
Is your mandate exclusive, and is there a tail?	AIData.Broker’s mandate is not exclusive, ends on 30 days’ notice and has a 12-month tail limited to listed buyers (source)
Are you paid by the programs you recommend?	Any advisor, including us, should answer this in writing

Where should you start?

Start with fit, not with the kind. Our value check compares your headcount, history, tools and status with each program’s published criteria, and the tracker shows every term with sources. For two programs side by side, see Mercor vs micro1; if the company is closing, see licensing data from a closed startup. For the full deal process, read how licensing company data to AI works.