AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models
A new industry has emerged to help failing startups monetize their digital archives, including code and workspace data, by selling them to AI labs for model training. Companies like SimpleClosure and Sunset are facilitating these transactions as data becomes a valuable asset for AI development.
Why it matters
This trend raises significant questions about data privacy, ownership, and the secondary market for corporate information in the age of artificial intelligence.
Most startups fail. A new industry is giving their data an afterlife in AI.
When Keelan Miskell began winding down his crypto startup this year, he didn’t think its data was worth much: the users were anonymous, the company just a few years old. But he’s since turned the firm’s digital archives into real money. He’s netted roughly $25,000 for his code base and a still-pending amount (likely around $15,000) for the workspace data in Google, Notion, Figma, and Slack. “At least all that stuff we were doing for two and a half years is worth something to someone somewhere,” he says.
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