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Updated October 2026

AI data brokers: who sits between your company and the AI labs

Independent and sourced. We feature companies that pay us a referral fee. Our scores and reviews don't change for it. How we earn

Three kinds of company stand between a business and the labs that train on its data: licensors that pay you and license the data on, introducers that are paid to connect you, and marketplaces that take a commission. How each is paid tells you whose side it is on.1,2,3

Match my companyWhat is it worth?

Licensors

Licensors: they pay you, then license to labs

micro1, Mercor, Polyshares, Nyne, Cognor Labs and Ventra each publish a program to buy or license operating data from companies. micro1 has committed $1B over 12 months to buying company data. Most charge sellers nothing and pay within 2-8 weeks of signing, though Ventra may add fees with notice and micro1 pays only after it accepts the data. Polyshares says a third-party partner scrubs personal data before licensing, and it charges no fee.4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Troveo describes its deals as licensing on a revenue share, with the percentage not published, and starts with a free value assessment.13,14

Introducers

Introducers: paid to connect you

A newer group introduces companies to licensors and is paid on the deal. Pewter says it is paid by the licensing firm at close and takes firms with 20+ staff and 3+ years. License My Data says it shares commission per deal. aitrainer.work says it is paid for referrals and never holds the data. Endless lists target industries from logistics to law firms and says labs pay it.2,15,16,17

Licensors pay for introductions too. micro1's referral terms set a default of 7.5% of the license price. Handshake pays $10K per referred company when the deal closes. We may earn referral fees from the companies we rank; it never changes the ranking.18,19

Introducers: paid to connect you
FactValue and source
Pewter (broker)

Lists freight and logistics, agencies and consulting, trades, accounting, engineering, manufacturing, software and law firms; 20+ staff and 3+ years; paid by the licensing firm at close

Its privacy policy names Buzzlead.io LLC, a Florida company, as the operator; it names no people.

[2] Pewter website · company's own claim ·

License My Data (broker)

Takes companies with 30+ employees and 2+ years, or closed companies with 50+ staff at their peak; shares commission per deal

[15] License My Data website · company's own claim ·

aitrainer.work

Says it introduces companies to buyers, is paid for referrals and never holds the data

[16] aitrainer.work compare page · company's own claim ·

Endless (broker)

Lists logistics and freight, consulting, property management, insurance agencies, law firms, accounting, staffing, healthcare operations, IT services and BPO; about 30+ employees; says labs pay it

Endless also says it places data with micro1, Mercor and Handshake. No buyer has confirmed this.

[17] Endless website · company's own claim ·

Default referral payout

7.5% of the license price paid to the company

At 7.5%, a $50,000 payout implies a license of 50,000 / 0.075 = about $667K.

[18] micro1 referral terms (updated 2026-10-08) · company's own claim ·

Company referral payout

$10K per referred company, paid when the deal closes

[19] Handshake AI data partnerships referral page · company's own claim ·

Marketplaces

Marketplaces: they list your data and take a cut

Data marketplaces list datasets for buyers to find. Datarade takes 30%, 20% or 15% commission depending on the seller's plan. hc1 licenses its 12B+ lab results through the Protege marketplace. Cloudflare acquired the AI data marketplace Human Native.3,20,21

For a company that has shut down, SimpleClosure runs a dedicated channel: 150+ data deals for wound-down startups, typically $10K-$100K each.22

FAQ

Questions, answered with sources

  • A company that connects data owners with AI buyers. Some license the data themselves and pay you, like micro1, Polyshares and Nyne; some introduce you and are paid at close, like Pewter; marketplaces like Datarade list data and take a commission.1,23,24,2,3

  • Ask who pays the broker. Pewter says the licensing firm pays it at close, and License My Data shares commission per deal, so their fee comes from the buyer side. Going direct usually costs nothing: Mercor, Polyshares and Ventra say they charge sellers no fees, though Ventra may add fees with notice.2,15,6,12,7

  • Introducers usually do not. aitrainer.work says it never holds the data. Licensors do receive it: ask each one where it is stored, who removes personal data, and how it is deleted.16

  • Floors differ. Pewter asks for 20+ staff and 3+ years; License My Data for 30+ employees and 2+ years, or closed companies with 50+ staff at their peak; Endless for about 30+ employees.2,15,17

  • By commission. Datarade takes 30%, 20% or 15% depending on the seller's plan. Other brokers take a cut too: Jottings 20-30% of proceeds and FileYield 8%. Most licensors that buy directly, such as Mercor, Polyshares and Ventra, charge sellers nothing.3,25,26,6,12,7

  • No. We compare buyers and send you to them; we never hold data or negotiate. We may earn a referral fee, and we feature the buyers that pay one; it never changes a score or a review.

  • We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company: their team reviews this with you before anything is signed.

Before you sign

Legal questions go to the licensing company

We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company before you sign: their team reviews these with you.

Questions for this kind of business

  • Do customer, vendor 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?

How this page was made

Every figure comes from a published source listed below, each with the date we checked it. Buyer statements are the buyer's own claims and are marked so in the source list. Firm counts come from the US Census Bureau's Statistics of US Businesses. Anything marked as our estimate is ours, not a buyer quote.

Drafted with AI assistance from our research files, then checked against each source. Reviewed 14 Oct 2026. Last updated 14 Oct 2026.

We feature companies that pay us a referral fee. Our scores and reviews don't change for it. See how we earn and how we rank. This site does not give legal, tax or financial advice.

Sources (26)

  1. 1.micro1 company referral page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  2. 2.Pewter website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  3. 3.Datarade data providers page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  4. 4.The Next Web, published 9 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  5. 5.Cognor Labs partners page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  6. 6.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  7. 7.Ventra terms of service, published 30 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  8. 8.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  9. 9.Ventra company data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  10. 10.micro1 Data License Master Terms, published 7 Oct 2026. 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.Troveo, published 11 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  14. 14.Troveo, published 11 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  15. 15.License My Data website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  16. 16.aitrainer.work compare page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  17. 17.Endless website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  18. 18.micro1 referral terms (updated 2026-10-08), published 8 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  19. 19.Handshake AI data partnerships referral page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  20. 20.hc1 press release, published 12 Feb 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  21. 21.Cloudflare blog, published 15 Jan 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  22. 22.Forbes, published 16 Apr 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  23. 23.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  24. 24.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  25. 25.Jottings how we get paid page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  26. 26.FileYield data buyers page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.