Payment comes after the buyer has received and accepted the data, not at signing. Mercor says payment typically arrives 2–4 weeks after the agreement is signed. micro1 has 30 days to review data after transfer, then pays within 30 days of your invoice. Scoping and contracting come before that, and micro1 says there is no guaranteed time from application to completion.
Typical sequence
| Stage | What happens | Published timing |
|---|---|---|
| Application | Your company applies on the buyer’s site | Minutes |
| Screening and scoping | Buyer reviews fit, asks about systems and history, makes an offer | Not published; Nyne starts with a 15-minute call |
| Contract | Scope, de-identification, rights, deletion, payment terms | Depends on your legal review |
| Transfer | You export or connect the agreed systems | Mercor: within 2–4 weeks of signing, including processing |
| Review and acceptance | Buyer checks completeness and quality | micro1: up to 30 days |
| Payment | Wire or invoice payment | micro1: within 30 days of invoicing; Mercor: on delivery of the anonymised dataset |
What buyers publish about payouts
| Buyer | What it says | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| micro1 | $100K to $3M+ per approved package, in three tiers | Quality, uniqueness and value of the data |
| Nyne | “Commonly worth $100K or more” | Type and volume of data |
| Mercor | No figure | Data volume, tools connected, depth of data |
| Troveo | Its calculator gives directional ranges by headcount and years, for example $800K–$1M for 100 employees and 8–15 years | Paid per sale, possibly more than once |
| Mode | $100K–$5M; its calculator gives an indicative range per company | Systems and dates in scope, history, volume, quality, rights |
These are each buyer’s own words and calculators as of November 2026, not a guarantee. Our payout calculator runs Mode’s and Troveo’s published calculators on your company’s figures and shows the results side by side; it is not an offer and not our own valuation.
How to keep it moving
- Decide the scope early. List the systems, years and teams you are willing to include and anything you will not.
- Line up approvals. An owner or authorised executive signs. In a closing company, that may need the board or, in bankruptcy, the trustee.
- Brief your lawyer with our legal considerations checklist.
- Keep the accounts alive. Do not cancel Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Slack until the data is delivered and accepted.
Questions people ask
Is there an upfront payment?
None of the buyers we cover publishes an upfront payment. Payment follows delivery and acceptance of the data.
What slows a deal down?
Deciding what is in scope, internal approvals, legal review of privacy and client obligations, and the export itself. Closed companies can move faster on approvals but must act before accounts are deleted.
Sources
More on how it works
What company data qualifies for licensing
Which business records AI buyers license (email, chat, documents, tickets, CRM, code), what they exclude, and the size and history they expect.
Privacy and de-identification: who removes personal data
How AI data buyers remove personal information from company records before licensing, what you control, and what to put in the contract.
Legal considerations before you license company data
Employee and customer data, privileged and health records, privacy policies and bankruptcy rules: what to check with a lawyer before licensing records.