What sells
What a closed company can sell
SimpleClosure says code, Slack, email and docs are in scope; sensitive employee and health records are excluded. Cielo24 sold 13 years of Slack, Jira and email for what was reported as hundreds of thousands of dollars. One crypto startup got about $25,000 for its code base, with about $15,000 for workspace data pending.3,4,5
Larger wind-downs hold larger archives. Spirit Airlines' internal records ran to about 100M emails, 500M Microsoft Teams messages and 176,000 employee records. Most closing companies hold a small fraction of that, but the kinds of records are the same: who asked for what, who decided, and what happened next.6
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Deals closed | 150+ data deals for wound-down startups, typically $10K-$100K each |
| What SimpleClosure leaves out | Sensitive employee and health records are excluded; code, Slack, email and docs are in scope |
| Cielo24 archive sale | Cielo24 sold 13 years of Slack, Jira and email for "hundreds of thousands of dollars" |
| A closed crypto startup's data | About $25,000 for its code base, with about $15,000 for workspace data pending |
| Expected returns | Expects to return over $10M to startups by the end of 2026 |
Who buys
Who buys from a closing company
SimpleClosure runs a wind-down channel and expects to return over $10M to startups by the end of 2026. License My Data takes closed companies that had 50+ staff at their peak. In a larger wind-down, such as Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy, Google, Mercor and micro1 all bid for the archive.7,8,9,10
Operating-company buyers set floors on current headcount: micro1 asks for 30+ employees and Nyne for 20+ US W-2 staff. A company that has let its staff go no longer meets them, which is why wind-down channels exist.11,12
Timing
Do it before the accounts are shut
Once workspaces are deleted and subscriptions lapse, the archive is gone. Ask a buyer early, while Slack, email and drives are still live, and agree what is excluded before any export.
Agree in writing, before anything leaves the company: what is in scope and what is not, who removes personal data and by what method, which buyers receive the archive, what the channel keeps from the sale, and when the company is paid. SimpleClosure already excludes sensitive employee and health records; ask what else it leaves out.3
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
SimpleClosure says sensitive employee and health records are excluded; code, Slack, email and docs are in scope.3
Only if the data is gone. If workspaces, mailboxes or repositories still exist or were exported, a buyer can assess them. License My Data takes closed companies with 50+ staff at their peak.8
About 100M emails, 500M Microsoft Teams messages and 176,000 employee records, iTnews reported. Most closing companies hold far less, which is why typical prices are lower.6
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
- 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?