Failed startups are becoming training-data suppliers for AI labs
AI labs are paying for defunct startups’ code, Slack histories, documents, and other operational records, creating a new way for failed founders to recover value from company archives. SimpleClosure has handled more than 150 deals, with 47% now including code or data sales, while its platform expects to return over $10 million to startups by the end of 2026. The data helps build AI training environments, though performance gains over synthetic data remain unproven.