Industry guide
License your venture firm's pipeline and memos to AI buyers
Venture firms have years of pipeline decisions with reasons, investment memos, partner meeting notes and founder-support playbooks. Portfolio companies that shut down are also a source of data deals: SimpleClosure has done more than 150.
Most of it already sits in a deal CRM such as Affinity, memo templates, Slack and email. Buyers want the written trail of how your team actually does the work, so most owners lead with SOPs and training material, then add day-to-day records once personal details are dealt with.
- Key figure
- 150+
- Buyers' published range
- $100K to $2M+
- Time to a written offer
- Days to 2 weeks
- Owner time, per buyers
- 1 to 3 hours
01 / What buyers value
Records a buyer will look for at a venture firm
Pipeline history with pass reasons
Where it lives
CRM
Why a buyer wants it
Thousands of judgments
Raise first
Founder details
Screening frameworks and memos
Where it lives
Docs
Why a buyer wants it
Investment reasoning
Raise first
Company details
Partner meeting notes
Where it lives
Docs
Why a buyer wants it
Debate and decisions
Raise first
Confidential
Founder-support playbooks
Where it lives
Docs
Why a buyer wants it
Platform work
Raise first
Usually nothing
LP reporting templates
Where it lives
Docs
Why a buyer wants it
Reporting method
Raise first
LP details
| Record | Where it lives | Why a buyer wants it | Raise first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pipeline history with pass reasons | CRM | Thousands of judgments | Founder details |
| Screening frameworks and memos | Docs | Investment reasoning | Company details |
| Partner meeting notes | Docs | Debate and decisions | Confidential |
| Founder-support playbooks | Docs | Platform work | Usually nothing |
| LP reporting templates | Docs | Reporting method | LP details |
02 / Value
Putting a number on a venture firm's data
No buyer publishes a price list by industry. What they do publish is a range for a whole company: micro1, Polyshares and Ventra each advertise deals from roughly $100K to $2M or more, and Pewter's licensing partner cites examples between $350K and $650K. Read those as the buyers' own marketing figures, not offers.
For a venture firm of about 20 people, three things move the number most: how many years of history you have, how much of the work is written down in one place, and how cleanly client and employee details can be removed. Try the worth estimator for a range based on your size.
03 / Buyers
Which buyers take venture capital firms
On Troveo's intake form, the closest category ("financial services, banking or fintech") sits in the top of its four demand tiers, the group it says buyers pay a premium for. Polyshares lists investment management as one of its premium industries.
Published size rule
Asks for at least 30 staff, with no upper limit
A 20-person venture firm
Too small at 20
Published size rule
At least 20 full-time US office employees, or 10 for accounting and 6 for law
A 20-person venture firm
Fits at 20
Published size rule
At least 20 W-2 staff in the US and three years of history
A 20-person venture firm
Fits at 20
Published size rule
At least 20 people and three years, with a higher bar in some sectors
A 20-person venture firm
Fits at 20
Published size rule
At least 30 US staff and three years of data
A 20-person venture firm
Too small at 20
Published size rule
Around 30 people or more
A 20-person venture firm
Too small at 20
Published size rule
No headcount floor; it weighs how deep the record goes
A 20-person venture firm
No size floor
Published size rule
Publishes no minimum
A 20-person venture firm
No size floor
Published size rule
Publishes no minimum (its calculator begins at 20)
A 20-person venture firm
No size floor
| Buyer | Published size rule | A 20-person venture firm |
|---|---|---|
| micro1 | Asks for at least 30 staff, with no upper limit | Too small at 20 |
| Mode | At least 20 full-time US office employees, or 10 for accounting and 6 for law | Fits at 20 |
| Nyne | At least 20 W-2 staff in the US and three years of history | Fits at 20 |
| Pewter | At least 20 people and three years, with a higher bar in some sectors | Fits at 20 |
| Ventra | At least 30 US staff and three years of data | Too small at 20 |
| Endless | Around 30 people or more | Too small at 20 |
| Polyshares | No headcount floor; it weighs how deep the record goes | No size floor |
| Mercor | Publishes no minimum | No size floor |
| Troveo | Publishes no minimum (its calculator begins at 20) | No size floor |
Some buyers pay us a referral fee. It never changes your price, and it never changes the order of our rankings.
04 / Typical week
What one ordinary week produces
- Monday: forty pitches reviewed, three advanced.
- Tuesday: a memo written for partners.
- Wednesday: partner meeting debate.
- Thursday: a portfolio company helped with hiring.
- Friday: quarterly LP report drafted.
Illustrative. Multiply one week by every year you have kept, and that is the record a buyer is looking at. The written decisions matter more than the totals.
05 / Process
How a deal works
- 1
Check the fit
Answer a few questions about headcount, years of records and the systems you use. No files change hands.
- 2
Inventory call
A buyer walks through what you hold and what it wants. Most say the owner spends one to three hours in total.
- 3
Written offer
Buyers usually send terms within days to two weeks: price, scope, term and whether the deal is exclusive.
- 4
Clean and deliver
Personal details are removed under the agreed method, then a copy is exported. Your originals stay where they are.
micro1
What it asks for
Procedures, internal wikis, project and task history, CRM activity
Offer and payment
Up to 30 days to review, then paid within 30 days of invoice
Ask about
Its master terms describe a perpetual license. It says it strips personal details "when relevant", so ask exactly how.
Ventra
What it asks for
Mainly inboxes, recorded calls and helpdesk tickets
Offer and payment
Offer in 3 to 7 days, then net 30 or 60
Ask about
Its terms warn it may be unable to erase data after delivery.
Polyshares
What it asks for
Inboxes, recorded calls, helpdesk tickets and ERP extracts
Offer and payment
Offer in 1 to 2 weeks, paid in 30 to 60 days
Ask about
Licenses are exclusive by default.
Pewter
What it asks for
Operating records for the industries on its list
Offer and payment
No fee to the owner, it says
Ask about
Launched October 2026 by a Florida sales agency. Its licensing partner, not Pewter, signs and pays.
| Buyer | What it asks for | Offer and payment | Ask about |
|---|---|---|---|
| micro1 | Procedures, internal wikis, project and task history, CRM activity | Up to 30 days to review, then paid within 30 days of invoice | Its master terms describe a perpetual license. It says it strips personal details "when relevant", so ask exactly how. |
| Ventra | Mainly inboxes, recorded calls and helpdesk tickets | Offer in 3 to 7 days, then net 30 or 60 | Its terms warn it may be unable to erase data after delivery. |
| Polyshares | Inboxes, recorded calls, helpdesk tickets and ERP extracts | Offer in 1 to 2 weeks, paid in 30 to 60 days | Licenses are exclusive by default. |
| Pewter | Operating records for the industries on its list | No fee to the owner, it says | Launched October 2026 by a Florida sales agency. Its licensing partner, not Pewter, signs and pays. |
06 / Timing
If you are selling or winding down
A data license can sit alongside a sale or a wind-down. If you are selling the business, agree with the acquirer who keeps the right to license the archive. If you are closing down, keep the workspace and inboxes alive until a buyer has seen them. A closed company is not out of options: SimpleClosure reports more than 150 completed sales of shut-down startups' archives.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can our failed portfolio companies sell their data?
Yes, through wind-down services such as SimpleClosure and Sunset, if the company's archives still exist.
Is a 20-person venture firm big enough?
6 of the 9 buyers in our size check take a venture firm that size, going by their own published rules. Below 20 people your options narrow to the buyers with no stated minimum.
Do we lose our records if we license them?
No. A license gives the buyer a copy for agreed uses and your originals stay put. Read the term and deletion clauses closely: micro1's master terms describe a perpetual license, and Ventra warns it may be unable to erase data after delivery.
Find the buyers that fit your company
Answer a few questions about your size, tools and history. We show which buyers want a company like yours. Free, no files.
Keep reading
Sources
Every number on this page links back to one of these.
- 1arxiv.org: 2510.04374v1arxiv.org
- 2simpleclosure.com: Simpleclosure asset hubsimpleclosure.com
- 3technologyreview.com: Ai labs buying data from dead startups to train modelstechnologyreview.com
- 4troveo.ai: Financial firm data licensingtroveo.ai
- 5Troveo: Business data programtroveo.ai
- 6Polyshares: Sell company datapolyshares.com
- 7micro1: Company referral programmicro1.ai
- 8Beri: micro1 enterprise data partnerships, terms and risksberi.net
- 9Mode: Data program requirementsdata.mode.inc
- 10Nyne: Sell company datanyne.ai
- 11Pewter: Company data licensingpewterdata.com
- 12Pewter: Partner examplespewterdata.com
- 13Ventra: Company datajoinventra.com
Spot something wrong? See our corrections policy. Some buyers pay us a referral fee. How we make money.