Market size
- The AI training dataset market was $2.82B in 2024 and is forecast to reach $9.58B by 2029, a 27.7% CAGR (MarketsandMarkets, GlobeNewswire).
Company data programs
- One AI data company committed $1B over 12 months to buying company operational data (Oct 2026) (The Next Web).
- Published payout tiers: $100K+, $500K+, $1M+ per company.
- Troveo says it has paid $20M+ to content owners (company claim) (IT Brief).
- Defined.ai says marketplace partner datasets grew 1,200% in 2025 and several partners earn $1M+ a year (company claim) (Defined.ai).
- Protege raised $30M led by a16z in January 2026 for its data marketplace (SiliconANGLE).
Shutdown data
- SimpleClosure: ~100 deals in a year at $10K–$100K each (Forbes); 150+ deals by Oct 2026, with 47% including code or data sales (MIT TR).
- SimpleClosure projects returning $10M+ to startups by end of 2026 and reports AI buyers up 9x vs 2025 (Business Wire).
Notable deals
| Deal | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC companies' data | $150K | The Information |
| Spirit Airlines data (Google winning bid, pending court approval) | $10M | Stretto |
| Reddit–Google content license | ~$60M/yr | Engadget |
| News Corp–OpenAI | $250M / 5 yrs | LLM Pulse |
Licensing deal counts
- Neudata tracked 52 AI data-licensing deals through May 2025 (5 in 2023, 42 in 2024), mostly with publishers and none involving operational data (Neudata). Operational data deals are a 2026 development.
Cite this page: DataPaid, "AI Training Data Market Statistics (2026)," datapaid.ai.
Frequently asked questions
How big is the AI training data market?
MarketsandMarkets estimated $2.82B in 2024, growing to $9.58B by 2029 at a 27.7% CAGR.
How much do AI companies pay for company data?
Published enterprise tiers run $100K–$1M+; shutdown startup sales typically run $10K–$100K.