Licensing company data to AI labs, questions answered

The buyer is the AI data company you sign with, which in most cases is micro1. Who Buys Your Data is an advisor run by Aleksandar Velev and does not represent any buyer. You speak to the buyer's own data partnerships team before anything is shared, and your contract is with them.

micro1 is a real AI data company, reported at about a $4B valuation and a $500M annual gross run rate, and it announced a $1B commitment to license company data on 2026-10-09. It is also the company that bid $12.5M for Spirit Airlines' data. Nothing is shared and nothing is paid by you before a signed agreement, so you can verify everything on the call with their team.

AI models have already read the public internet, and it does not show how real companies get work done. Records like tickets, email threads and project files teach and test AI agents on real business tasks. That is why buyers pay for archives you already have.

AI data companies license whole sets of company records and supply them to frontier AI labs. The one we work with in most cases is micro1. Big labs such as Google also buy directly in rare cases, like the $10M Spirit Airlines purchase.

AI data companies. They license data from established companies, clean it and supply it to frontier AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. There are 100+ of them. We work with micro1 in most cases. It has committed $1B to licensing company data. Your agreement is always with the buyer directly, and you meet their team before anything is shared.

It depends mostly on headcount, years of records and how many tools the data covers. micro1's own calculator puts a 50-person US company with 10 years of records at about $290k to $600k, and a 100-person company with 10 years at about $380k to $890k. Payouts run from $100K up to $10M, and the buyer gives the exact number in its offer.

micro1 pays your company under your agreement. It reviews your data within 30 days of transfer, and once it is accepted you invoice and are paid in full within 30 days. The schedule is written into the contract you review before signing.

The estimate is built mainly from how many people, how many years and how many tools the data covers. Raw file counts matter less than whether the files record real work. Exclusivity terms differ by buyer and are part of the offer you review.

You pay us nothing. The buyer pays us a referral fee when your deal completes, and it is not taken out of your payment. We disclose this to every company before it signs.

Only if it records work. Terabytes of images, video or backups add little, while years of email, chat, tickets, CRM history and project files across many people add the most. Tell the buyer which tools your team used and for how long.

For a historical archive it is usually a one-time payment. micro1 lists $500K to $2M for ongoing participation across multiple teams, which depend on you continuing to supply data. Ask the buyer to separate the guaranteed amount from anything that depends on future deliveries.

It can be. Buyers value specialised work that is hard to find elsewhere, and micro1 lists $2M+ for highly unique, proprietary operational data. Explain what is unusual about how you work on the first call.

Usually a few weeks to about three months from the first call. Most of the time depends on how fast your team completes the transfer.

You book a call with us, and we check that you qualify and pick the best buyer. We guide your application, prepare you for the call with the buyer and represent you on it, then fill any gaps with the buyer's team. The buyer sends pricing, we help you negotiate, and you sign once your attorney has reviewed the agreement. Only then does your team transfer the data, and we stay with you until the payout lands.

You can get a rough estimate from the calculator on this page. For a more accurate estimate, we need to get you to an actual buyer. We help you apply, and the buyer gives you a real number.

A total of 10 to 15 hours of your team's time across the entire process, in return for a payout of multiple six or seven figures.

Records of real work, such as email threads, Slack or Teams chat, support tickets, CRM history, SOPs, documents and project files. Customer lists, pricing and IP are not what they want. The exact categories and years get scoped on the first call.

Yes. Archives from closed companies are in demand, and micro1 runs a separate program for companies that had 50+ employees at their peak with Slack or Teams history. SimpleClosure reported about 100 such deals in a year at $10k to $100k each.

Privileged legal material, health and biometric data, payment and bank details, Social Security numbers, data about minors, and classified or export-controlled information. A law firm or a health company can still take part with its other operating records.

Your team exports it from each tool you use, like email, chat, your CRM, support desk and project tools. Each tool has its own export. The buyer's engineers tell you exactly what to export and how, and we help along the way. It is a one-time export, not a live connection.

Yes. At least 70% of your company's data needs to be in English.

Companies with 25 or more desk or office staff, at least 70% of their data in English, based in the US or another Western market, with several years of well-kept records across multiple business systems.

Only the export you approve, scoped with the buyer to the tools and years in the deal. Buyers usually want all of it apart from sensitive data, and leaving tools out lowers the offer. You see what is included before anything is sent.

Names, companies, accounts, addresses and phone numbers are replaced before any lab sees the data, so a client becomes 'Company A'. Sensitive categories are excluded entirely, and with micro1 the raw data is deleted within 120 days. The protections are written into the data agreement your attorney reviews.

No. Your own team runs a one-time historical export with the buyer's engineers guiding over Slack. There are no agents, no live access and no monitoring.

No. Buyers want operational records that show how work moves between tools, not customer lists, pricing or IP. Personal details are replaced before any AI lab sees the data.

It is as safe as the contract and the scrubbing behind it. Keep personal and client data out, confirm the anonymisation and deletion terms in writing, and have your attorney review the agreement. Sensitive categories such as health data and payment details are excluded by the buyers anyway.

The buyer's obligations are set out in the data agreement, so your attorney can check them before you sign. Ask specifically about re-identification, deletion and indemnity.

You license it and keep ownership. With micro1 the only restriction is that you cannot license the same dataset to a micro1 competitor for 24 months.

Scope of the data, payment and schedule, exclusivity, anonymisation duties, deletion, how the buyer may use the data, and liability. It comes with the offer so your attorney can review it before signing.

A company can generally license records it owns, within privacy law and its own contracts. Client files under NDA, personal data and anything a contract restricts are the usual limits. This is not legal advice, so have your counsel review the scope and the agreement.

Aleksandar Velev runs Who Buys Your Data and advises companies through the whole licensing process. It is free for you because the buyer pays him a referral fee when a deal completes. He does not work for any buyer.

You can apply directly and it costs the same. Through us you get answers before you talk to a sales team, help preparing for the review, and help reviewing scope and terms. The buyer pays our fee either way.

Yes. We can send the buyer comparison, the published payout tiers and the main contract terms in writing first. The binding numbers come in the buyer's written quote.

No. We never buy, hold or touch your data. The buyer licenses it from you directly under its own agreement, and we advise you through every step.

You sign up through our link and get your own micro1 referral link. The company applies through it. We handle all the work with the company, and micro1 pays you when the deal completes.

micro1 pays $50k for each referred company that completes a deal worth up to $700k, and 7.5% of the deal value above that. A $1M deal pays $75k and a $2M deal pays $150k. These are micro1's amounts and can change, so micro1's dashboard and terms decide.

After the company signs its deal with micro1 and micro1 confirms the payout. That usually takes a few weeks to a few months.

Established companies with 25 or more desk or office staff, most of their records in English, based in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia or New Zealand.

Sign up through our link, then refer companies that fit with your own micro1 link, with the owner's consent. Email velev@gtmrevenue.com if we have not already seen the referral in our dashboard. We take it from there and advise the company for free.