"Micro1, a three-year-old startup that helps AI companies find and manage human contractors for data labeling and training, has raised a $35 million Series A funding round that values the company at $500 million. The round was led by O1 Advisors, a venture capital firm co-founded by Dick Costolo and Adam Bain, the former CEO and COO of Twitter. The startup is one of many companies looking to fill the gap in the data market created by recent changes involving Scale AI."
"After Meta invested $14 billion in Scale AI and hired its CEO, AI labs including OpenAI and Google said they planned to cut ties with the startup, presumably over concerns that their research could end up in Meta's hands. (Scale AI denies that it shares confidential information with Meta as part of its partnership). However, AI labs still need these data services, and startups like Micro1 aim to pick up the slack."
"Micro1 CEO Ali Ansari - who is just 24 years old - tells TechCrunch that his company has been working with leading AI labs, including Microsoft, as well as several Fortune 100 companies. Ansari said Micro1 is now generating $50 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), up from $7 million at the start of 2025. That's still a far cry from larger competitors like Mercor, which is generating more than $450 million in ARR, and Surge, which reportedly brought in $1.2 billion in 2024."
Micro1 is a three-year-old startup that finds and manages human contractors for data labeling and training for AI companies. The company raised a $35 million Series A funding round that values Micro1 at $500 million, led by O1 Advisors, a venture capital firm co-founded by Dick Costolo and Adam Bain. Micro1 added Adam Bain to its board alongside Joshua Browder. Meta invested $14 billion in Scale AI, prompting AI labs like OpenAI and Google to announce plans to cut ties with Scale, creating demand for alternative data providers. Micro1 serves leading AI labs and several Fortune 100 companies and grew ARR from $7 million to $50 million.
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