The AI data market in November 2026: what changed in two weeks
Labs are still buying company data, but they are moving to bigger companies. Ventra says many now ask for 50+ staff, after offers resumed from a short October pause. CAD, code and video archives still sell at any size, healthcare, finance and legal are open again, and good offers get pulled when owners wait.1,2,3,4,5
Buyers want bigger companies
Ventra says the market keeps moving upmarket and many labs now ask for 50 or more employees. It also says nobody knows how long labs will keep buying from companies with 20 to 100 employees.1
Other buyers' own rules point the same way. Polyshares asks brokers for 50 or more employees and prefers 100+, Mode wants 50+ office staff from construction and technology companies, and micro1's company data partnership starts at 30.6,7,8
Size still isn't the only route in. Ventra told us a company under 30 people received a $300,000 offer on November 4.9
Offers came back after a pause
Ventra said some labs paused for 5 to 10 days in October, then sent six first-round offers in the 48 hours before October 28. Every one of the six companies had 30 or more people, and Ventra's read is that more people and more tools means a bigger offer.2
Good offers don't wait for you. Ventra said an owner with a $340K offer didn't move quickly enough, and the lab pulled it.5
Regulated industries are open again
Ventra's partner page had said it couldn't take legal, healthcare, financial services or accounting companies. On October 28 it said healthcare, financial and legal companies are now on the table and that labs are asking for law firms by name, and it repeated the point on November 4. Its partner page now says those firms are welcome, though its partner program page still says it can't take them, so ask Ventra which applies.10,4,9
Mode's November 2 partner guide put law firms, banks and lenders, and construction among the industries getting its highest offers, and said it no longer takes staffing agencies.7
Design files, code and video still sell at any size
Archives are the exception to the size rule. Ventra told us CAD, video and video game datasets can come from a single person, and Pewter is taking companies' own engineering design archives with no headcount minimum.3,11
Pewter is also taking one company's connected email, chat, docs and tickets, where the same people and work show up in each system, and it says startups winding down are the best place to find them.12
Companies that shrank or closed are in demand
Labs asked Ventra several times in the three weeks before October 28 for companies that once had 50 or more people, including ones that downsized or went bankrupt.13
micro1 runs a separate partnership for companies no longer operating that had 30 or more employees and English records.14
Owners arrive informed, and contracts got stricter
Ventra said about 80% of owners on its calls had never heard of data licensing three or four weeks before October 28, and that more now arrive having already talked to a lab or another broker.15
Buyer contracts are getting more specific. DataVendor's agreement, dated October 28, bars you from offering the same or similar data to the buyers behind its requests outside its platform for a year after your access ends. micro1's master terms, dated October 30, ask you to promise the data holds no health records, biometric identifiers or children's data.16,17
What to do now
Four moves follow from these updates, most of all for a company under 100 people.1
- Get a quote while headcount is at its peak. Many labs now set their floor at 50, and a smaller team only narrows the field.1,6
- Read a written offer the day it lands and decide quickly, since a lab can withdraw it.5
- Say up front if the company shrank or closed. Several buyers now ask for exactly that.13,14
- Lead with any CAD, code or video archive if you're under 20 people, because those sell without a headcount floor.3,11
Pros and cons
Pros
What it means for a business like yours
For a company of 20 to 100 people, the window may be narrowing, so a quote now is worth more than a quote next quarter. Under 20, lead with design files, code or video.1,3
Should your business get in now?
Businesses are already licensing their records: micro1 has committed $1B over 12 months to buying company data, and at least 18 firms started advertising for it between September and mid-October 2026.18,19 Our view, not a promise: the money will not be around forever, because prices tend to come down as more businesses sell.18,20 Take the quiz to see which firms fit your business.
Plus a free Seller's Guide when you finish.
Plus a free Seller's Guide when you finish.FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
Buyers are moving toward bigger companies. Ventra says many labs now ask for 50+ employees and that nobody knows how long labs will keep buying from companies with 20 to 100.1
Treat a written offer as time-limited. Ventra said one lab pulled a $340K offer because the owner didn't move quickly enough.5
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- Do customer, supplier or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?
What changed since we first published
- 9 Nov 2026 Ventra's partner page now welcomes legal, healthcare, accounting and financial firms, while its partner program page still says it can't take them, and Mode's partner guide is no longer public.