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For business owners

AI companies are paying businesses for their old emails and Slack

AI has already read most of the internet, but it has never seen how a real business runs, the back-and-forth with clients, how problems get solved, how decisions get made. If your company has years of email, chat and files, someone may pay to license a copy. We compare the buyers, so you can pick the right one.

See which buyers fit my businessWhat could my data pay?

Free to use. Some buyers pay us a referral fee, which never changes our ranking. How we earn

Why this exists

Why AI companies want your company's data

The newest AI models are being built to do real office work, and the open web cannot teach that. Your company's records can, and because they are private, the labs have to pay for them.

The internet ran dry.

The big models have already trained on most of the public web, which is full of articles and posts, but almost none of it shows how people actually work together inside a company.

Your records show real work.

A long email thread with a client, a Slack argument about a deadline, a ticket that got solved on the third try: that is how professionals actually think and decide, and it is exactly what AI agents need to learn.

Licensing beats scraping.

Your data is private, so the labs cannot just take it, and after Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a lawsuit over pirated books, they would rather pay for permission.1

micro1 set aside to buy company data over 12 months

$1B2

micro1 set aside to buy company data over 12 months

Google's bid for Spirit Airlines' email and chat archive

$10M3,4

Google's bid for Spirit Airlines' email and chat archive

data deals SimpleClosure has closed for startups

150+5

data deals SimpleClosure has closed for startups

new brokers advertising for business data since September

18+6

new brokers advertising for business data since September

This market barely existed a year ago, and plenty of businesses are already cashing in. Nobody knows how long the labs will keep paying these prices, which is why it is worth finding out now what yours is worth.

How it works

How licensing your data works

You are not selling your company, and you are not handing over the originals. You license a cleaned-up copy, you keep everything, and you get paid.

  1. 1

    Tell a buyer what you have.

    You do not send any files to start, just your headcount, how many years of records you keep and which tools you use, like Gmail, Outlook, Slack or Teams. Published minimums run from 20 people at Nyne and Handshake to 30 at micro1, and Mercor states none at all.7,8,9,10

  2. 2

    Get a written offer.

    After a short call, the buyer makes an offer. Polyshares says that takes one to two weeks, and an online estimate is not an offer, so wait for the number in writing.11

  3. 3

    They clean it before anyone uses it.

    Names, personal details and client information are stripped out before anything reaches an AI lab. Who does the cleaning, and how, is one of the things to compare between buyers.12,13

  4. 4

    Sign and get paid.

    You sign a license that limits what the buyer can do with the copy, and payment usually lands a few weeks after signing. Mercor says it pays within two to four weeks of signing.14

Most of the work is the export. The buyers that publish it say it takes you somewhere between one and three hours.15,16

See which buyers fit my business

Who to sell to

The companies paying for business data, ranked

We compared every company we could find that pays businesses for their data, on what they pay, how fast, how they protect your people and how clear their contracts are. Here is who fits whom.

  1. 01Top pick
    m1

    micro1

    Licenses SOPs, knowledge bases, CRM metadata and project history to AI labs.

    Best forUS companies with 30+ staff and years of documented operations

    Typical payout
    $100K to $2M+, micro1 says17

    Watch out for: Says it removes personal details only "when relevant", so ask exactly how.13

    7.7/10How we rate
    Get matchedRead the reviewVisit micro1
  2. 02
    Ps

    Polyshares

    Buys Slack, email, CRM, tickets, calls and ERP records and licenses them to labs.

    Best forSellers who want a third party to scrub personal data first

    Typical payout
    $100K to $2M+, Polyshares says18
    Fees
    None, Polyshares says19
    Time to get paid
    An offer in 1 to 2 weeks, then paid in 30 to 60 days11

    Watch out for: Exclusive by default, and every deal it lists is exclusive with no end date.20,21

    7.4/10How we rate
    Get matchedVisit Polyshares
  3. 03
    Me

    Mercor

    Buys Slack, email, docs, CRM and code history through Mercor Data.

    Best forCompanies that want fast payment and no fees

    Typical payout
    Mercor does not publish a range22
    Fees
    None, Mercor says23
    Time to get paid
    By wire 2 to 4 weeks after signing14

    Watch out for: It confirmed a cyberattack in 2026, and class actions followed.24,25

    7.1/10How we rate
    Get matchedRead the reviewVisit Mercor
  4. 04
    Ny

    Nyne AI

    Buys QuickBooks, NetSuite, Salesforce, HubSpot, Asana and Jira data.

    Best forUS companies with 20+ W-2 staff and 3+ years of finance and CRM records

    Typical payout
    $100K or more, Nyne says26

    Watch out for: Pays only after the dataset is accepted, and publishes no timeline.27

    7.0/10How we rate
    Get matchedVisit Nyne AI
  5. 05
    SC

    SimpleClosure

    Sells the Slack and email archives of wound-down startups.

    Best forStartups that have shut down or are winding down

    Typical payout
    Usually $10K to $100K for a closed startup5

    Watch out for: Built for startups that are shutting down, so deals are smaller.5

    6.1/10How we rate
    Get matchedRead the reviewVisit SimpleClosure

Some buyers pay us a referral fee. It never changes our ranking. How we earn

See all the buyers we compared

Who to trust

How to tell a real buyer from a time-waster

Since September, a wave of new companies has started running ads saying your company data is worth six or seven figures. Many of those ads open a Facebook form, some with no website or company name behind them, so here is what to look for before you hand anyone your details.6,28,29

Good signs

  • A real company you can look up, with named people behind it
  • Written terms that say what they can and cannot do with your data
  • They tell you who strips out personal details, and when
  • No fee to you, ever, and a written offer before you sign anything
  • They let you review samples before anything is used

Red flags

  • A form with no company name, no address and no terms
  • Logos of AI labs on the page without saying those labs are their customers
  • Pressure to sign fast, or a promise of a payout before they have seen anything
  • Asking for direct access to your email or Slack accounts on day one
  • Any upfront fee

Who is who. Some companies buy your data and pass it to AI labs, some are brokers paid by one buyer, some shop your data to several buyers, and some are just ad funnels that send your details to a partner. Each profile says which one you are dealing with, because it changes your price and who sees your data.

Read the full review of every buyer

Before you sign

What to get in writing before you sign

Every buyer says it is free, that you keep your data and that personal details come out. Where they really differ is in the contract, so here is what to ask every one of them.

  • Exactly what is included: which tools, which years, which people.
  • Exclusive or not, and for how long. Some licenses are exclusive by default, sometimes forever, which means you cannot license the same records to anyone else.30
  • Whether they can pass it on, and to whom.
  • Who strips out names and personal details, how, and whether you see a sample first.
  • The fee and who pays it. Most buyers charge you nothing, but one broker takes 20 to 30 percent of your check, so on a $500,000 deal you would keep $350,000 to $400,000.31
  • When you get paid: at signing, on delivery, or after they accept the data.
  • When the copy gets deleted.
See which buyers fit my business

What can go wrong

It is not for everyone

Licensing your data can be a real payday, but it is a real decision, and here is why some owners walk away.

  • Client confidentiality.If most of your email is about your clients' private matters, a lot of it may have to stay out, which can shrink the offer.
  • Your team.Your people wrote those emails, so think about how you will explain it to them.
  • Regulated records.Health, financial and legal records come with extra rules, and some buyers will not touch them.
  • A small archive.A few years of email at a 6-person company may not be worth the effort for some buyers.
  • Losing control of a copy.Once a copy is licensed, you depend on the contract for how it is used, so read it closely.
  • Your contact details travel.Many of the ads open a form that shares your details with partners, and at least one signs you up for automated calls from a marketing company.32
  • The big number is a ceiling."Up to $2M" is the top of a range, and the estimate tools often land well below their own headline.33

The buyers' own teams walk you through what can and cannot be included for a business like yours. We do not give legal advice, so put those questions to them.

The calculator

What could your company's data pay?

Move the sliders for a rough range, based on the deals that have been published so far.

Type your exact headcount, drag the slider, or pick a band.

Our estimated range

$250Kto$450K

Operating company, 20+ staff, multi-year tools. The low end of the $100K-$2M+ ranges micro1 and Polyshares publish.

A starting point from published deals, not an offer. Real offers depend on what your records contain and what you are allowed to include.

Get real offers from matched buyersOpen the full calculator

Where it goes

Who actually ends up with your data?

Most of the time, a data company licenses your records first, cleans them, and passes them on to AI labs, and most will not tell you which lab.34

So who is on the other end? Mercor's customers include OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, micro1 works with Microsoft, Forbes reports Amazon too, and Google bid $10 million for Spirit Airlines' internal emails and chats.35,36,37,3,4

The labs mostly use it to teach AI agents to do office work, by building practice copies of real workplaces where an agent tries a task, gets graded and tries again.38

FAQ

Questions owners ask us

  • Yes, if it is a business with a few years of records. Companies like micro1, Mercor and Polyshares license copies of company email, chat, files and CRM records and pass them on to AI labs. Most ask for 20 to 30 or more staff, and you license a copy rather than selling the originals.39,40,9,7

  • Buyers that publish a range quote $100K to $2M+ for an operating company, and Nyne says $100K or more. A startup that has closed usually gets $10K to $100K. Your number depends on headcount, years of records and how many tools you use, so try the calculator, then get an offer in writing.17,18,26,5

  • No. You license a copy and keep your originals and your business. micro1 says the company keeps ownership and reviews samples before release. Read the license for how long it runs and whether it is exclusive, because some are, with no end date.41,30

  • Polyshares says it makes an offer one to two weeks after you get in touch and pays within 30 to 60 days. Mercor says it wires payment two to four weeks after signing. Others do not publish a timeline, so ask for the payment date in writing.11,14

  • Buyers say they strip out names and personal details before anything reaches a lab: Polyshares uses an outside partner for this, and micro1 says it removes them when relevant. Whether you need to tell your clients or staff, or ask their permission, is a legal question, so put it to the licensing company.12,13

  • Usually an AI lab, through the data company you license to, and most will not say which lab. Mercor's customers include OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, and micro1 works with Microsoft.34,35,36

  • Most buyers charge you nothing: Mercor and Polyshares both say they take no fee. Some brokers take a cut of your check instead, one of them 20 to 30 percent, so ask who pays the broker before you sign.23,19,31

  • micro1 is a real, well funded company: it raised $100M+ at a $4B valuation and has committed $1B to buying company data. Watch for look-alikes, though: at least one affiliate site running ads for its program says plainly that it is not micro1.42,2,43

    Read more

  • Most buyers want 20 or more. Nyne and Handshake ask for 20+, micro1 for 30+, and Mercor states no minimum. A company that has closed can still sell through a wind-down channel such as SimpleClosure.7,8,9,10,5

  • The everyday record of work: email, Slack or Teams, shared drives, your CRM, support tickets and project tools. micro1 asks for SOPs, playbooks and task histories, and Mercor lists Slack, Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce and 100+ other tools.44,39

  • Often, unless your first license is exclusive. Troveo says the same records can be licensed to several buyers, with exclusive deals paying more, while every deal Polyshares has published is exclusive with no end date. Check this before you sign.45,30

  • Not much. Pewter says about an hour of the owner's time and Goldmined says two to three hours. micro1 estimates one to three hours to list what you have, plus up to 10 hours of engineering time to move it.15,16,46

Not selling data?

Hiring a data company for your AI team?See the data companies we compared.Want paid AI training work?See the platforms that are real.

Sources (46)

  1. 1.Bloomberg Law. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  2. 2.The Next Web, published 9 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  3. 3.Bloomberg Law, published 17 Aug 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  4. 4.iTnews. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  5. 5.Forbes, published 16 Apr 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  6. 6.Meta Ad Library (our review). Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  7. 7.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  8. 8.Handshake AI data partnerships referral page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  9. 9.micro1 company referral page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  10. 10.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  11. 11.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  12. 12.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  13. 13.beri.net, published 10 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  14. 14.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  15. 15.Pewter website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  16. 16.Goldmined.ai website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  17. 17.micro1 company referral page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  18. 18.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  19. 19.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  20. 20.Polyshares data handling page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  21. 21.Polyshares track record page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  22. 22.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  23. 23.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  24. 24.TechCrunch, published 31 Mar 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  25. 25.HR Dive, published 13 Apr 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  26. 26.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  27. 27.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  28. 28.Meta Ad Library, BDLG page transparency. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  29. 29.Data Value Check website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  30. 30.Polyshares track record and data-handling page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  31. 31.Jottings how we get paid page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  32. 32.Data Value Check website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  33. 33.Goldmined.ai check page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  34. 34.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  35. 35.Fortune, published 2 Apr 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  36. 36.TechCrunch, published 4 Dec 2025. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  37. 37.Forbes (Australia edition), reported, published 23 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  38. 38.SiliconANGLE, published 9 Jul 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  39. 39.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  40. 40.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  41. 41.beri.net, published 10 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  42. 42.Forbes, published 22 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  43. 43.Data Value Check website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  44. 44.micro1 Enterprise Data Partnership page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  45. 45.Troveo, exclusive vs non-exclusive data licenses, published 10 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  46. 46.Summary of micro1's video "How to earn up to $2M training AI models with anonymized company data". Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.