AI Labs Purchase Data from Shutting Down Startups to Train Models

Tech undertakers like SimpleClosure are selling digital archives, including code and workspace data from dying startups, to AI labs and mature tech companies. SimpleClosure has handled over 150 deals and expects to return over $10 million to startups by the end of 2026. Buyers, such as Surge AI, seek real-world data to build reinforcement-learning gyms, as AI training labs face limits with public and synthetic datasets. Valuations vary widely, as noted by Nick Heiner, because the performance gains from real-world data are not yet clearly tested.