Updated November 2026
Protege review: who it is for, and who should look elsewhere
Protege is a fit if you own a media library, clinical data or similar content with broad rights, and in our view a poor fit for everyday company email, CRM and files, which its about and data provider pages do not list. If your records look like that, our quiz shows which buyers take them. Protege says it pays a revenue share and publishes no rate, and the only dollar result we found is an unnamed broadcaster that earned over $1M in 6 months.1,2,3,4,5
Our score
Not ranked
Not in our seller ranking
Protege's provider terms describe a non-exclusive license, and its case study describes exclusive AI training rights for one catalog.6,7
Protege's marketing describes a revenue share, and its public terms name no rate, but they refer to fees paid to the provider and say a signed Schedule controls where the two differ. Ask to see that Schedule first.3,6
Key facts
Protege in its own words and others'
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Protege: who licenses | Partners typically license content they "own outright" or control "under global all media or similarly broad rights" |
| Protege: deal size | Publishes no revenue share percentage, rate or payment schedule on its data provider page or provider terms |
| Protege: deal type | Partners keep ownership and license limited rights for defined AI training purposes, under a revenue share agreement |
| Protege: preparing the data | Handles curation, quality control, masking and dataset construction. Depending on the dataset and jurisdiction, privacy steps may include automated removal of personal identifiers and optional anonymization or voice modification |
| Protege: after a deal ends | Existing buyers keep access for 12 more months, academic buyers for 3 more years, and Protege may keep data for legal or regulatory compliance |
| Protege: company | Protege Health, Inc., 169 Madison Ave STE 38206, New York, NY 10016. Provider terms use Delaware law |
Is this for my business?
Protege suits rights holders, not a typical company archive
Protege says its partners typically license content they own outright or control under global all media or similarly broad rights. Healthcare and media are the two areas with numbers behind them: Protege said in August 2025 it had over 100 data partners across those two areas, and hc1 says it licenses 12B+ lab results through Protege.1,8,9
Protege's about page also names text, agentic data, energy, manufacturing, real estate, finance and agriculture, but does not say which it has licensed and which it only offers. Neither that page nor its data provider pages list email, CRM or everyday business documents as data it licenses, so ask directly before you spend time here if that is what you hold. Its healthcare provider page does list clinical notes, patient-provider communications and scanned documents, so a medical practice has more reason to ask.10,2,11
What does it pay?
Protege says it pays a revenue share, with no published rate
Protege publishes no revenue share percentage, rate or payment schedule. Its case study says one unnamed major broadcaster earned over $1M in 6 months licensing a scripted and cinematic library, which is one media company's result on Protege's own site, not a typical deal.4,5
Protege says it is often fulfilling active opportunities in under a month, which describes filling buyers' requests and not when you get paid. The public provider terms name no fee amounts either, so ask to see the money terms early, before you hand over any samples.12,6
What do I sign?
Protege's terms: what you keep, and what stays with buyers
Protege says partners keep ownership and license limited rights for defined AI training purposes, and it handles curation, quality control, masking and dataset construction. Depending on the dataset and jurisdiction, its privacy steps may include automated removal of personal identifiers and optional anonymization or voice modification.3,13
Protege's public provider terms set no express duty on either side to strip out personal details, and the provider represents that it holds the consents needed for any personal or health data. Buyers may not try to re-identify people in stripped datasets. When a deal ends, existing buyers keep access for 12 more months, academic buyers for 3 more years, and Protege may keep data for legal or regulatory compliance.14,15
Protege's own pages differ on exclusivity. The provider terms describe a non-exclusive license, while the broadcaster case study describes Protege maintaining exclusive AI training rights for that catalog and says this helped the price, so ask which one your deal would be, since a signed Schedule controls where it differs from the terms.6,7
Who is behind it?
Who runs Protege
Protege Health, Inc. lists a New York address, and its founders are Bobby Samuels, Travis May, Engy Ziedan and Richard Ho. Protege raised a $25M Series A led by Footwork in August 2025 and a $30M Series A-1 led by a16z in January 2026, and AlleyWatch puts its total at roughly $65M since 2024.16,8,17,18
Check first
How to check Protege, or any buyer
The same checks for every company we profile. We state facts; you decide.
- 1.Find the company behind the ad: a legal name, a registered address and named people.
- 2.Ask for a written offer and a sample agreement before you send any data.
- 3.Ask who removes personal data, by what method, and approve it before anything is exported.
- 4.Ask which AI labs will receive the data, and whether you will be told.
- 5.Ask how they are paid: by you, by the buyer, or from a share of your deal.
- 6.Get terms from at least one other buyer before you answer.
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What people who worked with Protege say
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FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
Protege's terms let existing buyers keep access for 12 more months and academic buyers for 3 more years. Protege may also keep data for legal or regulatory compliance.15
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 revenue share percentage applies to us, and where is it written?
- Is our license exclusive or non-exclusive, and for how long?
- Who owns this data: the company, an estate, or someone else?
- Do customer, supplier or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
- Do professional rules apply (AICPA, IRC 7216, HIPAA, ABA Model Rule 1.17, insurance agency contracts, adviser rules, state boards)?
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?