Reported prices for company data, from closed startups to Spirit Airlines

Each entry comes from a court docket, a named news outlet or a liquidator's listing, sorted from largest to smallest.

These figures come only from the company making the claim. None identifies the seller, and we were unable to confirm any of them.

VMS and Cognor Labs publish the same example deals in identical wording: $1.6M to a Midwest freight brokerage, paid within 72 hours, and $1.4M to an Ohio CNC machine shop, paid within 10 days. Two unrelated firms showing one anonymous deal is a sign you are looking at advertising.

The Information published a headline about labeling startups handing HVAC firms $150,000 for their data. The story sits behind a paywall and we could not tell whether it described a data license or labeling work, so it is not in our tables.

The biggest licenses so far have gone to platforms and publishers. Reddit reported $203M in data licensing contracts, and HarperCollins put $5,000 per title on the table for authors. A mid-sized company will not be priced at that level, but these deals show how much labs spend on distinctive text.

For a business of 30 to 80 people, the fairest yardstick right now is what buyers publish, mostly between $100K and $2M. No identified HVAC contractor or accounting practice has gone public with its payment yet.

Use claimed deals as a loose reference only. When a buyer cites an example, ask to speak with that client, and insist on a written offer of your own before any file changes hands.