PewterIndustrial distribution
$1.2M
Communications, product knowledge, order history, supplier records and operating documents. Paid nine days from bid.
For owners of US firms with 20+ employees
Your old email and files are worth six figures to AI labs. We handle the entire sale.
Labs are paying established firms to license de-identified copies of records they already keep. A 60-person accounting firm was paid $350,000. A 100-person freight broker, $650,000. Pewter runs your deal from valuation to wire. You take one call and approve the terms.
No files to startNo cost to youYou keep your originals
Estimate your payout
Estimated licensing payment for your firm
Get my offer
Based on our licensing partner's payout model for US firms. An illustration only: your actual offer may be lower, higher or unavailable after data review.
Recent licensing payments to firms like yours
Freight broker · 100 people
$650K
Rate quotes, shipment documents, dispatch records, delivery exceptions and claims.
Get an offer for a logistics firmEngineering firm · 70 people
$450K
CAD drawings, calculations, technical reports, revisions and specifications.
Get an offer for an engineering firmAccounting firm · 60 people
$350K
Five years of workpapers, reconciliations, financial models and tax files.
Get an offer for an accounting firmWhy your records are suddenly worth money
The labs have read the internet. They have never seen how your business runs.
AI models learned to write from public text. What they cannot learn from the web is how a quote gets priced, a claim gets resolved or a shipment gets rescheduled. That knowledge sits in your inbox, your shared drive and your operating systems, and nowhere else.
So the labs started paying for it. This summer, when Spirit Airlines' de-identified emails and chats went to auction, Google won at $10 million after bidding opened at $5 million. Firms a fraction of that size are being paid in the hundreds of thousands.
| micro1 commits to buying enterprise operating data over the next 12 months · micro1, Oct 2026 | $1B |
| Spirit Airlines records, winning bid · Court filing, Aug 2026 | $10M |
| Michigan HVAC contractor, offer for its records · The Information, Jul 2026 | Up to $150K |
From “I don't know how we are going to pay our bills” to “we can tie this up neatly with a bow and be able to walk away.”
Shanna Johnson, CEO of cielo24, after licensing 13 years of Slack, Jira, email and Drive records for “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Reported by Forbes, April 2026.
Sources: micro1; Notice of Auction Results, S.D.N.Y. Case 25-11897 (sale pending court approval); The Information.
Your records are already sitting there. Find out what they're worth.Two minutes. No files. No cost.
One firm, start to finish
You take one call. We do everything else.
Pewter is your single point of contact from the first estimate to the day the payment lands. No shopping your data around, no IT project, no one else calling you.
What you do
About 1 hour
- Answer a few questionsTwo minutes, below. No files, no logins.
- Take one confidential callAbout 30 minutes, at a time you choose.
- Approve the offerRead the terms and sign if you like them.
What we handle
- ValuationWe size your records by system, years and sector, and tell you what they are realistically worth.
- The offerWe prepare your firm's offer with our licensing partner and bring it to you in writing: price, scope, permitted use and payment schedule.
- NegotiationWe work through price, exclusivity and scope before anything reaches your desk to sign.
- Export and de-identificationWe coordinate the export with your IT person or provider. Names, contact details, account numbers and credentials are removed before anything is delivered.
- Closing and paymentWe track every milestone to the wire and stay your contact afterward.
No offer, no cost
You risk nothing by asking
There is no fee to the owner at any stage. If no offer is made, or you don't like the one we bring, you walk away and nothing has left your systems. You approve every term in writing before a single record is exported.
Hand us the sale. Keep your hour.We call within one business day of your request.
The process
From estimate to wire in four steps
i.
Today · 2 minutes
Request your offer
Headcount, years in business and where your records live. Nothing uploaded.
ii.
Within 1 business day
Confidential call
We confirm what you have and give you a realistic range before any review.
iii.
After data review
Written offer
Price, scope, permitted use and payment milestones, in one agreement you can read in an evening.
iv.
On delivery
De-identify, deliver, get paid
We coordinate the agreed export and the de-identified copy. You keep your originals.
Step one takes two minutes.Start with your estimate, and we take it from there.
What actually leaves your building
Your clients and staff are never named
Every identifying detail is removed or replaced with a consistent placeholder before delivery, so the work survives and the people disappear. Below, an illustrative freight dispatch email.
Original, stays with you
From: Dana Whitfield <dana@harborlinefreight.com>
To: Mike Ortega, Ortega Produce
Re: Load #48213, reefer alarm
Temp alarm at 3:40 AM near Joplin, MO. Driver Luis Paredes (417-555-0182) rerouted to Springfield Cold Storage. Claim filed with carrier MC 774512; product held for inspection.
De-identified copy, licensed
From: [Broker_Rep_07] <[EMAIL]>
To: [Contact_112], [Shipper_31]
Re: Load [LOAD_0291], reefer alarm
Temp alarm at 3:40 AM near [City_44]. Driver [Driver_19] ([PHONE]) rerouted to [Facility_08]. Claim filed with carrier [CARRIER_ID]; product held for inspection.
Illustrative example; names are fictional. No de-identification method removes every risk, so you review the process and a sample before you sign.
Your clients stay anonymous. Your payment doesn't.See what a de-identified copy of your records is worth.
Across the market
Fifteen firms paid in 2026, and what they licensed
Published by the licensing firm that did each deal, or by the press. Owners are not named.
Freight brokerage · 100 employees
$650K
Rate quotes, shipment documents, dispatch records, delivery exceptions and claims.
Third-party logistics
$500K
Dispatch, customer messages, SOPs, logistics workflows and operating conversations. Paid seven days from bid.
Engineering · 70 employees
$450K
CAD drawings, calculations, technical reports, revisions and project specifications.
Roofing contractor
$450K
Operational record, anonymized before delivery. Perpetual, exclusive license.
Accounting · 60 employees
$350K
Five years of workpapers, reconciliations, financial models and tax-preparation files.
Logistics & distribution
$350K
A third-party logistics provider and distributor, published as a case study.
General contractor
$300K
Operational record, anonymized before delivery. Perpetual, exclusive license.
Accounting group
$280K
Workpapers, client service workflows, templates, internal communications and operating documents. Paid five days from bid.
Solar installer
$275K
Operational record, anonymized before delivery. Perpetual, exclusive license.
Marketing agency
$110K
Operational record of a global agency, anonymized before delivery. Perpetual, exclusive license.
Transcription software · winding down
Six figures
Thirteen years of Slack, Jira, email and Drive records, for “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Construction technology · 200+ employees
Undisclosed
Four years of history across seven workplace tools.
Fleet logistics · 15+ employees
Undisclosed
Four years of history across seven workplace tools. The smallest firm in any published deal.
Education technology · 400+ employees
Undisclosed
Six years of history across fifteen workplace tools.
Published by our licensing partner, Red Deer Data (and its case study), Polyshares, Ooak Data and Forbes. Dates show when we read each statement. These are the publishers' own statements, not independently verified, and Pewter did not advise on them. Results vary, and smaller firms often receive less.
Find out what your firm would be paid.Offers come in writing. You decide whether to sign.
Is your firm a fit?
Most established firms qualify
- 20+ peopleFull-time staff, now or at your peak.
- 3+ yearsOf email, files and records still on hand.
- US-basedWorking mainly in English.
- Any statusOperating, downsizing, winding down or closed, as long as the records still exist.
Firms whose records show skilled work step by step are in highest demand. Choose yours to start your offer:
Freight & logistics
Accounting & tax
Engineering & construction
Wholesale & distribution
Manufacturing
Roofing, HVAC & trades
Agencies & consulting
Software & IT
Law firms
Something else
Our licensing partner works with manufacturing, logistics, accounting, professional services, construction, software, healthcare, retail and media firms. Regulated, privileged or third-party records may be excluded from a deal.
Before you ask
What owners ask on the first call
Is this real money, or a pitch?
Real. Our licensing partner has paid $350,000 to $650,000 to firms of 60 to 100 people. Google's $10 million winning bid for Spirit Airlines' records is in a federal court filing. Your offer comes in writing before you commit to anything.
What does this cost me?
Nothing, at any stage. Our fee is paid by our licensing partner when a deal closes. If there's no deal, there's no fee.
Do I lose my data?
No. The deal is a license of an agreed, de-identified copy. Your original files and your ownership of them don't change.
Will my clients or employees be exposed?
Names, contact details, account numbers, credentials and payment details are removed or replaced before delivery. Regulated, privileged or third-party records can be excluded. No method removes every risk, so you review the process and a sample before you sign.
Who will use the data, and for what?
Authorized AI developers, for training and evaluating models, as defined in your agreement. Exclusivity and permitted uses are written into the terms you approve.
How much of my team's time does it take?
About an hour of yours. If an export is needed, we coordinate it with your IT person or provider. Nobody has to create new data or clean anything up.
What if I don't know what data we have?
Most owners don't. Tell us which tools you've used over the years (email, shared drives, your accounting or operating system) and we work out what's there on the call.
Why act now?
Labs are buying now. micro1 alone has committed $1 billion over the next twelve months. And the value lives in history you still have: when subscriptions lapse or a firm winds down, archives get deleted and that value is gone.
Still have a question? Ask it on a short call.Or request your offer and we'll answer it when we call.
Get your offer
Find out what your records are worth
Your estimate
$385K to $895K
100 employees · 10 years in business
- We call within one business dayTo confirm what you have and firm up the range.
- Held in confidenceNo files requested and nothing shared without your consent.
- No offer, no costYou can walk away at any point before signing.