AI labs buy defunct startups' data to train models
What happened
As AI training labs hit the limits of public and synthetic datasets, a crop of firms that service failed startups has begun selling founders' code and workspace data to AI labs. On 13 October 2026, MIT Technology Review reported that SimpleClosure's Asset Hub has handled more than 150 deals and expects to return over $10m to startups by the end of 2026, with 47% of its deals now including code or data sales.
Written by AI from the reports · updated 3 d ago
Timeline
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- MIT Technology Review · AIAI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models
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.
Heat of this event
Current heat 3·Peak in the comparable range 10（Oct 13 18:00）·Change over 24 hours in the comparable range -49%
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