Chris's AI data startups

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Chris Barber's picks63 companiesSource

I asked people which AI data startups they think are most interesting. The focus was on startups that sell data to labs, excluding the massive ones (Mercor, Surge, Handshake, Turing).

  1. Mechanize

    Mechanize builds RL environments and sells them to leading AI labs.

  2. Proximal

    Proximal is a research lab for coding data. We build the data engine behind the next generation of autonomous coding agents.

  3. Fleet

    Fleet - AI-powered workflows

  4. AfterQuery

    AI training data built from how experts reason, decide, and work.

  5. Datacurve

    Research and data infrastructure for training, evaluating, and advancing frontier AI models on long-horizon expert work.

  6. Bespoke Labs

    Bespoke Labs optimizes AI agents using cutting-edge research on data curation and evolutionary algorithms.

  7. Preference Model

    Preference Model is building the next generation of training data to power the future of AI.

  8. Abundant

    Environments and datasets for reinforcement learning.

  9. LatchBio

    A modern data, compute, and AI agent platform for biotech R&D.

  10. MicroAGI

    microagi is a data research lab working on end-to-end physical AGI, with a focus on reliable real-world deployments.

  11. Prime Intellect

    Train, evaluate, and deploy AI models you own.

  12. XDOF

    Robotics data and evaluation infrastructure for physical AI.

  13. DatologyAI

    Automatically curate model training data to train faster, improve performance, and reduce costs.

  14. d_model

    Steerable and explainable AI

  15. Hillclimb

    Training data for recursive self-improvement

  16. idler

    Push the frontier of your model

  17. Mecka AI

    Real-world data, evaluation, and deployment infrastructure for physical AI.

  18. Sieve

    High-quality video, audio, image, and interaction data for frontier AI.

  19. Trajectory

    Research lab and product company building the platform for continual learning.

  20. Vmax

    Vmax is automating reinforcement learning by transforming proprietary data and evaluations into new environments.

  21. Applied Compute

    Train, serve, and continuously improve AI models you own.

  22. Originator

    Powering Computer Use

  23. Phinity Labs

    Prompt to silicon: agents that go from workload to GDS in weeks.

  24. Pantograph

    An applied research lab building generally intelligent, scalable robots.

  25. Olam Labs

    Measuring how AI agents perform and behave in competitive, social environments.

  26. Andon Labs

    AI safety research through autonomous businesses and real-world deployments.

  27. Snorkel AI

    Expert data development for frontier AI

    • AR
  28. Build AI

    The data hyperscaler for physical AI.

  29. Polymath

    Simulation environments to train & evaluate long-horizon AI agents

  30. Prolific

    Prolific helps AI developers, researchers, and organizations access high-quality human data.

  31. Standard Machines

    A research lab building high-performance tools and AI for chip design.

  32. Theta

    Theta: Specialized AI for Every Job

  33. Vals

    Independent AI benchmarks built for real work, not proxy scores.

  34. Design Arena

    A crowdsourced benchmark for AI-generated design, shaped by real user preferences.

  35. Good Start Labs

    Simulations that measure and improve your models' key capabilities: Long-horizon reasoning, tool use, enterprise functionality, and more.

  36. HUD

  37. Inheritance

  38. Taste Labs

    We're giving AI models and agents taste | Join our mission to end AI slop.

  39. Adamo

    Sub-40ms latency teleoperation with managed operators for humanoids, AVs, and robot arms.

  40. Arcanum

    Frontier models you own.

  41. arcverex

    Reinforcement learning environments for chip design, built by hardware engineers. Train AI models on RTL, testbenches, and debugging.

  42. Arena

    Transparent AI evaluation for the models that matter.

  43. Ascent

    Record gameplay highlights automatically. Zero performance impact, no ads, no bloat. Supports League of Legends, Valorant, CS2, and 10,000+

  44. Centaur

    High-quality data annotation powered by 100,000+ experts for AI development.

  45. Chakra

  46. ChartR

    Healthcare training environments and AI evaluations for more reliable clinical agents.

  47. David AI

    David AI is an audio data research company trusted by top AI labs to develop proprietary audio datasets that power their models.

  48. Enable Medicine

    Leverage Enable's AI-powered biological search to answer your most critical scientific questions.

  49. Engram

    AI models that learn from your context and deeply understand your work.

  50. General Reasoning

    A London research lab building the infrastructure for AI that reasons, plans, and acts together over long horizons.

  51. Human Archive

    Data and deployment infrastructure for Physical AI.

  52. Hume AI

    Building AI with emotional intelligence to create technology that truly understands humanity.

  53. Micro1

    Data lab to train frontier models and evaluate agents

  54. Nascent

  55. Nlink

    The 4D Capture Layer For Physical AI

  56. Parsewave

    Custom datasets, traces, expert evaluations and more for frontier AI models.

  57. Plato

    Simulated worlds for training and evaluating browser agents.

  58. Precigenetics

    A photonic-AI platform for real-time chemical movies of living cells.

  59. Quesma

    Connect Claude Code, Codex and Cursor session costs to engineering work and outcomes. Find wasted tokens, repeated failures and practices to

  60. Thoughtful

    We

  61. Toloka

    Human-powered data solutions for AI development.

  62. Trajectory Labs

    Trajectory Labs, PBC provides AI safety evaluations, red teaming, and RL environments to frontier labs.

  63. Valen

    Valen partners with life sciences organizations to validate AI-discovered therapeutics through rigorous preclinical testing.

Packy's Top Companies@packym · 36 companies
John's Paraform Talent Density Index@0xjohnkim+47Zach's Cool Roles at Top Consumer Companies@zachtdavidson+27Milan's Products I use daily@milstan+2Milan's Most likely to derive meaningful insight about life by journaling@milstanMilan's Most likely to inpsire a change in the world@milstan+1Antone's All Things in Moderation (Trust & Safety)@techlexica+2Dan's Best GTM teams@dangaronData-Driven Insights in Venture@sidelettercoOlivia's Top 50 Consumer AI Apps — 7th Edition@omooretweets+47Olivia's Top 50 Gen AI Consumer Mobile Apps — 7th Edition@omooretweets+47Olivia's Top 50 Gen AI Consumer Web Products — 7th Edition@omooretweets+47Olivia's Companies Behind the Top 50 Gen AI Consumer Web Products — 7th Edition@omooretweets+36Olivia's Companies Behind the Top 50 Gen AI Consumer Mobile Apps — 7th Edition@omooretweets+29Suraj's 20 Companies Hiring@suraj_sharma14+17John's Top Neuratech Startups@johnzettler+2Antone's Product leaders@techlexica+6Chris's Home Screen October 2026@chrisfralic+8Chris's Consumer AI Winners in 2027@chrisfralic+1Chris's RL Envs@chrisbarber+65Sharath's Cracked builders in SF@5harath

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