Key findings
- 1
Human-data companies for AI announced 44 funding rounds from 1 Jan 2024 to 10 Oct 2026; the 38 with a disclosed amount add up to $3.1B.
- 2
The largest disclosed round was Scale AI's $1B Series F on 21 May 2024, at a $13.8B valuation.
- 3
9 human-data companies have a stated or reported valuation of $1 billion or more: Scale AI ($29B), Surge AI ($25B), Mercor ($20B), micro1 ($4B), Snorkel AI ($3.5B), AfterQuery ($3.2B), Turing ($2.2B), Invisible Technologies ($2B) and TELUS Digital ($1.3B).
- 4
Disclosed funding went from $1.2B in 2024 (12 rounds) to $975M in 2025 (14 rounds).
- 5
So far in 2026, 18 rounds have disclosed $974M.
- 6
The most primary funding disclosed since 2024 went to Scale AI ($1B in 1 round), Mercor ($480M in 3 rounds) and Snorkel AI ($450M in 2 rounds).
- 7
The largest deal was Meta Platforms' $14.3B investment in Scale AI, at a $29B valuation on 12 Jun 2025.
Figure 1
Every funding round, investment and acquisition
Who raised how much, when, at what valuation and from whom?
Sample. 65 rounds, investments, share sales, valuations and acquisitions from 1 Jan 2024 to 10 Oct 2026, each from the publication linked beside it.
Amounts and valuations are as published. A valuation is post-money unless the source says otherwise; one reported from unnamed sources is marked as reported in the data download.
n/a: the source does not state the figure.
Compiled by. AITraining.jobs Research, Funding and Valuations of AI Training Data Companies, reviewed 10 Oct 2026.
Figure 2
Capital raised and latest valuation, by company
Which human-data companies have raised the most, and what are they valued at?
Sample. Funding rounds with a disclosed amount from 1 Jan 2024 to 10 Oct 2026, summed per company; the latest valuation any source states. The source linked is the one for the latest valuation, or else the latest round.
Disclosed funding counts primary rounds only: strategic stakes bought from shareholders, tender offers and acquisitions are listed in the first figure, not added here.
A sum of disclosed rounds understates what a company has raised when some rounds were never priced in public.
Compiled by. AITraining.jobs Research, Funding and Valuations of AI Training Data Companies, reviewed 10 Oct 2026.
Figure 3
Disclosed funding by year
Is money flowing into human data for AI faster than before?
| Year | Disclosed funding | Rounds |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1.2B | 12 |
| 2025 | $975M | 14 |
| 2026 (to 10 Oct 2026)Partial week | $974M | 18 |
Sample. 44 primary funding rounds from 1 Jan 2024 to 10 Oct 2026; amounts where disclosed.
The current year runs to the review date, so it is partial.
Compiled by. AITraining.jobs Research, Funding and Valuations of AI Training Data Companies, reviewed 10 Oct 2026.
Figure 4
Acquisitions, strategic stakes and share sales
Who has bought into or bought out a human-data company?
Sample. 17 acquisitions, strategic investments and share sales from 1 Jan 2024 to 10 Oct 2026.
Compiled by. AITraining.jobs Research, Funding and Valuations of AI Training Data Companies, reviewed 10 Oct 2026.
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Company announcements, regulatory filings and reporting by major news outlets, each linked beside its figure. Every row links the publication it is taken from, with the figure as that publication states it; nothing is estimated or converted. Each figure states what it includes beneath it.
- Human-data company
- A company whose main business is supplying human work to train or evaluate AI models: expert networks, RLHF and evaluation vendors, data-labelling and annotation firms, RL-environment builders and the platforms that recruit for them.
- Funding round
- A primary sale of equity or convertible notes, as announced. Strategic stakes bought from shareholders, tender offers and acquisitions are listed separately and not added to funding.
- Valuation
- The valuation the source states for the round: post-money unless it says otherwise.
- Stated or reported
- Stated: the company, a filing or an investor gives the figure. Reported: an outlet reports it from unnamed sources. The data download says which for every row.
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What this data cannot tell you
- Compiled from public sources: an event that was never announced or reported is missing, and private companies' figures are what they or the press stated, not audited.
- A sum of disclosed rounds understates what a company has raised when some rounds were never priced in public.
- Valuations from unnamed sources and rounds in talks may differ from the terms finally agreed.
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Citation
AITraining.jobs (2026). Funding and Valuations of AI Training Data Companies (live data, 1 Jan 2024 to 10 Oct 2026). https://www.aitraining.team/research/ai-training-industry-funding (accessed 18 Oct 2026)
BibTeX
@misc{aitrainingjobs_ai_training_industry_funding_live,
author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
title = {Funding and Valuations of AI Training Data Companies (live data, 1 Jan 2024 to 10 Oct 2026)},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://www.aitraining.team/research/ai-training-industry-funding}},
note = {Accessed 18 Oct 2026},
}More research
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