Best ways to sell engineering and architecture firm data to AI companies
By Gareth HoyleLast updated How we research
In short
The best ways to sell engineering and architecture firm data to AI companies are a vetted broker such as Sell My Data To AI, or a license with Handshake AI, micro1, Mercor or Endless Data. No buyer publishes an engineering price range. Architects usually keep copyright in their drawings and license it to clients, a stronger starting position than many industries have.
Key takeaways
- Handshake AI is best for firms with design documentation and test reports.
- micro1 is best for established firms with engineering documentation.
- Mercor is best for practices on cloud tools in professional services.
- Sell My Data To AI wrote this list and ranks itself first. The method section explains the criteria.
- Every entry's facts come from the company's own published terms, checked November 2026.
Engineering and architecture firms hold expert reasoning checked against codes and standards: design calculations, specifications, design review comments, technical query logs and drawings. A project file shows the trail from query to answer. See our engineering and architecture data page.
No buyer we checked publishes an engineering price range. Handshake AI gives design documentation, specifications and test reports as engineering examples, and micro1 names engineering documentation in its brief. Compare their general ranges with a data valuation before you speak to either.
RIBA Journal explains that under a RIBA appointment the architect keeps copyright and licenses it to the client, which mirrors the position without a contract. The limits are security and confidentiality: ISO 19650-5 sets a security-minded approach for sensitive assets, and the Government Security Classifications Policy covers classified material.
- 1
Sell My Data To AI
Best for firms that need appointments and security restrictions checked first
Sell My Data To AI values design calculations, specifications and project records and brokers licenses with vetted AI buyers. Our eight-point seller vetting checks appointment terms, chain of title and third-party content such as subconsultants' work inside models. You pay nothing to be assessed, approve every buyer, sample and license term, and agree the success fee in writing before any introduction. We do not take custody of your raw data.
- Fee to seller
- Nothing to be assessed. A success fee only when a deal completes, agreed in writing before any buyer introduction
- Seller vetting
- Eight-point standard, from authority to sign to manifest accuracy, before any buyer sees your data
- Buyer vetting
- Company identity, intended use, security and retention, onward transfer limits and, for larger deals, ability to pay
- Data custody
- No custody of raw data. Buyers see redacted samples under a mutual NDA
- Your control
- You approve every buyer, sample and license term, and can withdraw at any point before signing
- 2
Handshake AI
Best for firms with design documentation and test reports
Handshake AI buys operational data from businesses and gives design documentation, specifications and test reports as hardware and engineering examples. Its data partnerships page headlines $100,000 to more than $4 million and sets out a five-step process in which you agree scope, exclusions and who may receive the data. It does not publish size thresholds, exclusivity, fees or payment timing.
- Published payout
- $100,000 to more than $4 million (headline). Its calculator shows estimates up to $100,000 and $400,000 to $800,000 or more
- Size requirement
- Not published. The calculator asks for employees, tools used and years in business
- Exclusivity
- Not published
- Fee to seller
- Not published
- Payment timing
- Not published. Payment follows delivery as the final process step
- 3
micro1
Best for established firms with engineering documentation
micro1 licenses operational records from established companies and names engineering documentation first in its published brief, alongside finance SOPs, support tickets and CRM records. Its data partnerships page publishes tiers from $100,000 to more than $3 million, asks for 30 or more full-time staff and mainly English records, and says companies keep ownership of their underlying data.
- Published payout
- $100,000 to $500,000 (qualified partnerships), $500,000 to $3 million (large-scale or ongoing), more than $3 million (highly unique data). Agent trajectories listed at $1 million to $2 million a year
- Size requirement
- 30 or more full-time staff, mainly English records, US first, then the UK and Canada
- Exclusivity
- Not published
- Fee to seller
- None stated
- Payment timing
- Homepage says within 30 days of acceptance. FAQ says up to 30 days to review, then payment within 30 days of invoice
- 4
Mercor
Best for practices on cloud tools in professional services
Mercor pays businesses to license workflow data from more than 100 supported tools, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Salesforce, GitHub and Notion. Its data monetization page says Mercor covers extraction, anonymization and transfer costs and pays by wire after delivery, typically within 2 to 4 weeks of the signed agreement. ddiy.co reported Mercor's referral page listing $20,000 to $1.5 million by industry in October 2026.
- Published payout
- Not published on mercor.com/data. ddiy.co reported Mercor's referral page listing $20,000 to $1.5 million by industry (October 2026)
- Size requirement
- Not published on mercor.com/data. Target industries include legal, healthcare, finance and insurance, professional services, manufacturing, retail, real estate and logistics
- Exclusivity
- Not published
- Fee to seller
- None. Mercor covers extraction, anonymization and transfer costs
- Payment timing
- Wire transfer after delivery, typically within 2 to 4 weeks of the signed agreement
- 5
Endless Data
Best for firms that want a fixed sum and a non-exclusive license
Endless Data, the trading name of Seldon Ventures, L.L.C., licenses quotes, tickets, work orders, SOPs and internal communications and places them with several AI labs, naming micro1, Mercor and Handshake. It advertises up to $4 million as an indicative estimate, asks for roughly 30 or more staff, uses a non-exclusive license and charges the seller nothing because the labs pay it.
- Published payout
- Up to $4 million (indicative estimate based on headcount, years of history and location)
- Size requirement
- Roughly 30 or more employees, several years of history, English documentation. US, UK and Canada prioritized
- Exclusivity
- Non-exclusive
- Fee to seller
- None. Endless is paid by the labs
- Payment timing
- Fixed sum agreed before data is shared, paid after signing, preparation and transfer. No date published
- 6
Scale AI
Best for firms that want anonymization inside their own environment
Scale AI's data partnership program pays companies for structured, de-identified records from their operational systems and never takes the raw systems themselves. Its page gives an illustrative value of $10,000 to more than $1 million per partnership, prefers 40 or more employees and says Scale anonymizes data inside your environment, with per-package approval gates and partnerships designed for recurring revenue.
- Published payout
- $10,000 to more than $1 million per partnership (illustrative, scaling with cadence)
- Size requirement
- 40 or more employees preferred, assessed case by case
- Exclusivity
- Not published
- Fee to seller
- Not published
- Payment timing
- Not published. Scale says partnerships are designed for recurring revenue
- 7
Troveo
Best for firms that want income from repeated sales
Troveo is a licensing agent that licenses company data from chat, email, documents, CRM, finance and code platforms to AI buyers on your behalf, sharing revenue on every sale. Its business data page reports more than $20 million paid to licensors and more than 40 active buyers, says full-company deals start at six figures, charges no fees and asks for time-limited exclusivity.
- Published payout
- Typical full-company deals start at six figures. More than $20 million paid to licensors to date (Troveo figure)
- Size requirement
- Not published. Its estimator uses headcount (20 to 1,000 or more) and years trading (under 3 to 15 or more)
- Exclusivity
- Time-limited and has to be earned, with exit terms in the agreement
- Fee to seller
- None. No fees, setup costs or deductions from payouts
- Payment timing
- Revenue share on every sale. Timing set in the agreement, not published
How we ranked this list
Sell My Data To AI wrote this list and ranks itself first. We are a broker with a commercial interest in the result, and some companies below offer a service similar to ours. Read the order with that in mind.
For engineering and architecture firms we gave extra weight to buyers that name engineering documentation, specifications or design records in their published brief.
| Criterion | What we checked |
|---|---|
| Fit for the data type | Whether the company names this kind of record in its own published brief |
| Published terms | Whether payouts, size requirements and license terms appear on the company's own pages |
| Vetting | What checks the company says it runs on sellers, buyers or datasets before a sample changes hands |
| Exclusivity | Whether licenses are exclusive, non-exclusive or perpetual, and whether that is published |
| Fees | Whether the seller pays a fee or commission, and whether the rate is published |
| Payment timing | When sellers are paid, as stated by the company |
| Transparency | How much of the above you can confirm before a first call |
Every fact about another company comes from our profile of it in the data buyers directory, checked on that company's own pages in November 2026. Where a term is missing we write "Not published" rather than guess. After first place, the order reflects fit for a company selling or licensing its data, not a quality score, and we do not rate any company negatively.
We rank Sell My Data To AI first because this is our list and our service is built for this reader, not because we scored ourselves against the others. We are independent of the buyers we work with, and our terms are on our fees and how we vet pages so you can compare them line by line.
Frequently asked questions
Do architects own the copyright in their drawings?
Can we license BIM models to AI companies?
What about defense and government projects?
Sources
- Architects' copyright licences and infringements on drawings, RIBA Journal, accessed November 2026
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 11: first ownership of copyright, legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026
- ISO 19650-5:2020 Security-minded approach to information management, International Organization for Standardization, accessed November 2026
- Government Security Classifications Policy, guidance 1.6: contractors and contracting authorities, GOV.UK (Cabinet Office), accessed November 2026
- Data partnerships, Handshake, accessed November 2026
- Data partnerships, micro1, accessed November 2026
- Data monetization, Mercor, accessed November 2026
- Sell company data to AI, ddiy.co, accessed November 2026
- Endless Data homepage and FAQ, Endless Data, accessed November 2026
- Data partnership, Scale AI, accessed November 2026
- Business data, Troveo, accessed November 2026