Updated October 2026
Small business Chapter 11 (Subchapter V) and the data archive
If your small business is in Chapter 11 under Subchapter V, or close to it, you are far from alone. Subchapter V is the small business election inside Chapter 11, and its use is climbing. Epiq counted 2,442 elections from January to September 2026, up 46% from 1,672 in the same months a year before. Each of those businesses has an internal record it has probably never listed as an asset: years of email, chat, documents and tickets.1
The trend
Elections are rising faster than Chapter 11 overall
September alone brought 276 Subchapter V elections, up 38% from 200 a year earlier. Across all commercial Chapter 11 cases, Epiq counted 6,560 filings from January to September 2026, up 11% from 5,895. Put side by side: Subchapter V up 46%, all commercial Chapter 11 up 11%.1,2
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Subchapter V elections, 2026 | 2,442 Subchapter V elections from January to September 2026, up 46% from 1,672; 276 in September, up 38% from 200 |
| Commercial Chapter 11 filings, 2026 | 6,560 commercial Chapter 11 filings from 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-30, up 11% from 5,895 a year earlier |
Why timing helps
An operating debtor still has its systems switched on
Subchapter V is still Chapter 11, and the US Courts guide says a Chapter 11 debtor usually remains in possession and may keep operating. That is the best moment to have an archive sampled, because the email tenant, Slack workspace and drives are live and the people who know where things are still work there. Once a business stops paying for its tools, aitrainer.work warns, Slack, Google Workspace and GitHub organizations get deleted.3,4
The catch
Buyers publish headcount floors, and many small debtors sit near them
Most buyers that publish a floor want 20 to 30 or more employees, often with a few years in business, and a few state no minimum. Some go lower for accounting and law firms.5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16
A Subchapter V debtor with a few dozen staff and several years of records may clear those bars, and one with a handful of employees probably will not. micro1's own estimator asks for employee count, years of data, number of business entities, share of data in English, headquarters region, and whether the data includes regulated or sensitive information, and it labels the result indicative only.5,17
micro1's floor is not one fixed number either. Its referral page asks for 30+ employees, and its Enterprise Data Partnership post describes companies of 30 to 200 employees. Neither page mentions companies that are in bankruptcy or closed, so a debtor should ask directly rather than assume.18
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Who can sell | Companies with 30+ employees, US first, mostly English data |
| Pewter: who qualifies | US firms with 20+ full-time staff now or at peak, 3+ years of records, working mainly in English; operating, downsizing, winding down or closed |
| Who Mode takes | Most businesses or nonprofits need 20+ full-time US office employees; accounting firms 10+ and law firms 6+; several years of records they own |
| micro1's payout estimator | Asks employee count, years of data, number of business entities, share of data in English, headquarters region, and whether the data includes regulated or sensitive information; the estimate is indicative only |
Below the floor
Smaller archives trade through wind-down channels
For businesses under those floors, the closest benchmark is the wind-down market. SimpleClosure reports 150+ data deals for wound-down startups, typically $10K-$100K each. Those sums come from an asset that would otherwise be deleted with the accounts. Grepped, which states no headcount minimum, is another option for a small business, and the match quiz shows which buyers take a company your size.19,9
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
2,442 from January to September 2026, up 46% from 1,672 a year earlier, per Epiq AACER data.1
Yes. There were 276, up 38% from 200 in September 2025.1
Subchapter V sits within Chapter 11, where the US Courts guide says the debtor usually remains in possession and may keep running the business.3
micro1 lists companies with 30+ employees, US first, with mostly English data.5
Employee count, years of data, number of business entities, share of English data, headquarters region and whether regulated or sensitive data is present. The estimate is indicative only.17
Not quite. Its referral page asks for 30+ employees, while its Enterprise Data Partnership post describes companies of 30 to 200 employees.18
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.
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
- What does the Subchapter V trustee need to see before the debtor licenses its archive?
- Would a license signed during the case count as an ordinary-course transaction or a sale needing notice?
- Who owns this data: the company, an estate, or someone else?
- What are the trustee's, assignee's, receiver's or board's duties, and who receives the proceeds?
- Which proceeding fits: an ABC, Chapter 7, Chapter 11 or a dissolution?
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?