Enterprise DNA
Training data and experts Supplier to the AI builders

Handshake

A student and graduate jobs network that now supplies expert contractors to train AI models.

Revenue
About $1.1B annualised gross revenue in April 2026 (Sacra estimate). Net revenue about $450M after contractor pay
Value
$3.5B in its 2022 round, the last priced round found (Sacra also cites $3.3B)
Growth
Gross annualised revenue up 349% year on year in April 2026, from about $245M (Sacra estimate)
Based in
San Francisco, US
Listed
Private
Why it is winning

Its AI training business grew from about $550M in January 2026 to nearly $1B, according to Dealroom.

The risk to watch

Part of its growth came from problems at rivals, and all of these figures are third-party estimates.

Money coming in

Who pays Handshake, and for what.

No customers of Handshake mapped yet.

Money going out

Who Handshake pays to do what it does.

No suppliers of Handshake mapped yet.

Where it sits on the map

Competitors and neighbours

Mercor
Supplier

Pays vetted experts to write, grade and check the training data that AI labs buy.

About $2B gross annualised run rate in June 2026, reported by The Information. Gross means before contractor pay, which Sacra says is 60 to 70 percent of it

Open profile
Scale AI
Supplier

Labels and grades training data and runs human evaluations for AI labs and big companies.

Meta paid $14.3B for 49%

Open profile
Surge AI
Supplier

Supplies high-end human data to AI labs, and was profitable before its first outside raise.

About $1.2B in 2024 (Sacra estimate)

Open profile
Appen
APX Supplier

Listed data company that collects and labels AI training data, with a fast-growing China business.

Group revenue A$119.9M in the half year to June 2026 (ASX filing)

Open profile
Invisible Technologies
Supplier

Runs human feedback and training data operations for frontier labs and large enterprises.

$134M in 2024, company figure reported by Sacra

Open profile
Labelbox
Supplier

Sells data labelling software and a data service for building AI training sets.

About $50M in 2024 (Latka estimate)

Open profile
micro1
Supplier

Supplies vetted domain experts, such as PhDs and senior engineers, to AI labs for training data.

More than $100M annual recurring revenue by December 2025 (TechCrunch). Sacra estimates about $500M annualised in August 2026 (estimate)

Open profile
Snorkel AI
Supplier

Builds finished training datasets and simulated environments for AI labs, enterprises and the US government.

Annualised run rate above $350M, company figure in September 2026. Implicator reports $375M

Open profile
Turing
Supplier

Supplies coding and engineering experts who train, test and check AI models for labs.

About $300M annual recurring revenue at its March 2025 round (TechCrunch)

Open profile

Sources: sacra.com, dealroom.co, sacra.com

The map updates three times a week.

241 companies across 25 areas, 62 money flows and 89 openings so far. New research lands every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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