Ooak Data: what they pay for company data
Ooak Data is a Y Combinator-backed applied AI research lab that licenses operational records such as email, Slack and Teams, documents, tickets, code and CRM from companies, anonymizes them and builds training material for frontier AI. Its partner page headline says "Earn up to $1M", and its FAQ says closed deals so far range from $20K to several hundred thousand dollars. It says the process takes 2 to 4 weeks and about one hour of the owner's time.
What does Ooak Data buy?
- Slack and Microsoft Teams history
- Documents and files (reports, contracts, presentations)
- Tickets and project management (Jira, Notion, Trello)
- Code and pull requests
- CRM and sales records
- Support history
- Spreadsheets and financial records
- Product analytics and internal wikis
How it works
As Ooak Data describes it on its own pages.
- Intro call: Ooak maps your workflows, tools and data footprint and gives an estimate. About 15 minutes.
- Scope: you pick the systems and date ranges. Anything you exclude is annexed to the contract before records move.
- Evaluation: Ooak counts what is there, including volume, coverage and how the tools connect. Under an hour of your time, with no engineering work.
- Anonymization: Ooak's in-house engine removes personal information and replaces names, companies and addresses consistently across sources.
- Payment: Ooak pays, and the raw archive is deleted within 30 days of delivery.
What we know about Ooak Data
Each fact links to its source below.
- Ooak's partner page headline says "Earn up to $1M". Its FAQ says deals to date range from $20K, the smallest closed, to several hundred thousand dollars.1
- Ooak says price depends on years of history, headcount, the number of tools and how deeply they connect. It says it never quotes a number before counting: its estimator gives a range and its audit gives a figure.1
- Ooak says the process takes 2 to 4 weeks and about one hour of the owner's time in total, with no engineering work needed. It works from a native export of each tool or read-only access.1
- Ooak says the raw archive is deleted within 30 days of delivery, as a contract obligation with written confirmation. Only the anonymized dataset is kept for the license term.1
- Ooak says the raw archive never leaves its own pipeline, and the buyer receives a cleaned dataset under a code name. One entity dictionary is applied across every source, and faces, logos and signatures are blacked out. You review a sample before delivery.1
- Ooak says it has recorded zero re-identification incidents to date. This is the company's own figure.1
- Ooak says whoever holds signing authority can license the data, including a director, a liquidator or an administrator, and that it has closed deals in each of those situations. Payment goes to the company, not to individuals.1
- Its page shows three datasets it has licensed: an edtech company with 400+ people, 6 years and 15 tools; a construction tech company with 200+ people, 4 years and 7 tools; and a fleet logistics company with 15+ people, 4 years and 7 tools. No prices are given for them.1
- Frontier List lists Ooak Data as a team of 1 to 10 people based in Paris.3
- In an October 2026 informal poll of 36 people in AI by investor Chris Barber, 3 named Ooak Data as a company to talk to about selling a private dataset, such as a shut-down startup's data. Voters could not pick a company they work at or founded. Barber discloses that he is a small investor in Ooak Data.23
Is it a good fit?
Good fit
- Companies whose work runs across several connected tools, such as email, Slack, Jira, GitHub and a CRM
- Smaller companies: one dataset Ooak shows came from a company of 15+ people with 4 years of history
- Companies that are closing or in liquidation or administration, where a liquidator or administrator signs
- Owners who want the buyer to handle extraction and anonymization
Worth checking
- "Up to $1M" is a headline ceiling. Closed deals so far run from $20K to several hundred thousand dollars, so ask for the audited figure in writing.
- Payment timing is not published beyond "we pay fast". Ask for the payment date and any conditions to be written into the contract.
- Exclusivity and license length are not published. Ask whether you can license the same records to others.
- The page does not name which labs receive the code-named datasets. Ask who the end buyers are and what they may do with the data.
Ooak Data FAQ
How much does Ooak Data pay for company data?
Ooak's partner page headline says up to $1M, and its FAQ says closed deals so far range from $20K to several hundred thousand dollars (checked October 2026). It prices by years of history, headcount, number of tools and how they connect, and gives a figure only after counting the data.
How long does Ooak Data take?
Ooak says 2 to 4 weeks, with about one hour of the owner's time: a 15-minute intro call, a scoping pass and an export or read-only access to each tool (October 2026).
Does Ooak Data buy data from closed companies?
Yes. Ooak says it has closed deals signed by directors, liquidators and administrators, and asks for the authority document up front (October 2026).
What happens to my raw data with Ooak Data?
Ooak says the raw archive stays in its own pipeline and is deleted within 30 days of delivery, with written confirmation. Only the anonymized dataset is kept for the license term.
Alternatives to Ooak Data
Other companies that pay for, broker or resell the same kinds of records. Sorted by name.
Guides that mention Ooak Data
Guides for owners that cite Ooak Data's terms or prices.
- AI data partnership programs: who runs them, what they pay (2026)Basics · 6 min read · Updated
- Sell your startup's data before you shut down: what closed companies get paidShutting down · 6 min read · Updated
Sources
Numbers in the text link here. See every player in the buyer index and reported deals in the deal ledger.
- Partner with usOoak Data · Publish date not shown · Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Post by Chris Barber: who to talk to if you're selling a private datasetX (@chrisbarber) · Published 29 Oct 2026 · Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Private dataset buyersFrontier List · Publish date not shown · Accessed 29 Oct 2026
Some companies listed here may pay us a referral fee. This page is written from public sources and was checked on 29 Oct 2026. Something wrong or out of date? Email hello@datalicensors.com and we will correct it.
See what your records could earn
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