For distressed companies
Raise cash before the filing, or plan it into one
If you're negotiating with lenders, considering an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or preparing a Chapter 11, a data license can bring in cash or become a first-day asset sale. Done right, it's at fair value and fully documented.
- No upfront cost
- Built for court approval
- De-identified
- Confidential
Confidential valuation
Step 1 of 2Not your company to sell? Refer it insteadWe'll send them a short intro that mentions you.
Illustrative range: up to $50K to $1M+, paid to the estate, usually for a license of a de-identified copy.
Illustrative, not a quote or a promise of price, timing or approvalPre-filing & distressed
Why it works for distressed companies
AI developers aren't buying your customer list. They want the de-identified record of how the work gets done. In a restructuring, that record is an estate asset.
Cash now, at fair value
A competitive process and written terms help show reasonably equivalent value if the deal is ever reviewed.
A cleaner first day
If a filing is likely, a marketed data sale can be teed up for approval early in the case.
Works with your lenders
Lenders with liens on intangibles usually need to consent. We coordinate with them, not around them.
What qualifies
Where the saleable data usually lives
You choose what's included, system by system. Rough estimates of volume and years of history are enough to start. No files are needed.
| System | What it shows a buyer | Typical sources |
|---|---|---|
| Chat & email | The record of how the business runs. | Slack, Teams, Microsoft 365, Google |
| Docs & SOPs | Procedures and institutional knowledge. | Confluence, Notion, SharePoint |
| CRM / ERP | Operational workflows. | Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite |
| Tickets | Service and support history. | Zendesk, Jira, ServiceNow |
Excluded or removed by default
- Customer PII restricted by your privacy policy
- Material under NDAs
- Privileged communications
- HR and health records
The options narrow fast. Know this one before you file.
How it works
From rough estimate to signed offer
You stay in control at every step. We do the packaging, the outreach and the negotiating, the way a banker would run a sale process.
- i.
Share rough estimates
Tell us which systems you use, roughly how much is in each, years of history, headcount and years in business.
- ii.
We package & de-identify
We scope the dataset with you, then export, clean and de-identify it, or guide your team to do it. Exclusions are honored.
- iii.
Labs compete
We take a packaged description to multiple AI labs and run a competitive process, so you're not negotiating against a single buyer.
- iv.
You approve, you get paid
You see the buyer, the price and the terms. Nothing is shared until you say yes. If it doesn't work for you, walk away.
Bid summary · Example
Exhibit: summary of bids received
- Seller
- Debtor (the estate)
- Asset
- De-identified operational records, 6 yrs
- Scope
- Slack · Docs · CRM
- Privacy
- De-identified before delivery
- Approval
- Sale order under § 363(b)
Bids received
What the labs actually see
They want the workflow, not the people. The workflow stays. The identities don't.
Here's what surprises most owners: labs don't care who said what. They care that a quote went from request to approval in two messages, and why. Names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, account numbers and customer names are removed or replaced before delivery. You approve the exact scope in writing.
Maria Chen9:14 AM
@Tom Alvarez can you approve the revised quote for Brightline Foods? They need it by Thursday.
Tom Alvarez9:21 AM
Approved. Send it from tom@hartwell-logistics.com and copy the account manager.
PERSON_309:14
@PERSON_7 can you approve the revised quote for CUSTOMER_22? They need it by Thursday.
PERSON_709:21
Approved. Send it from and copy the account manager.
Removed or replaced
- Names
- Emails
- Phone numbers
- Addresses
- Account numbers
- Customer names
- Excluded channels & folders
Our commitments
Privacy, control, low effort, no strings
The four things owners ask about first, answered plainly. The specifics go in writing before you sign anything.
Privacy
Everything is de-identified. Labs want how work gets done (workflows, decisions, how work moves through systems), not who said what.
Control
You choose what is included. Nothing is shared until you approve the buyer, price and terms, and anything outside the ordinary course goes to the court first.
Effort
Our engineers can handle the export and cleanup, or your team can run it with our playbooks. Your call.
No strings
No upfront cost, no retainer and no commitment. Any fee is paid only from a closed transaction, disclosed in the sale papers and subject to court approval where required.
Who qualifies
You're probably sitting on this if…
Not sure? Submit rough estimates anyway. We'll tell you honestly whether there's a market for your data.
- US case or US companyOur process is built around US bankruptcy courts and US buyers.
- Real operating historyUsually 20+ employees or several years of specialized records.
- Records in the systems aboveModern or legacy. Consistency over several years matters most.
- Data the company controlsWe review client, customer and vendor agreements with you first.
Value estimator
Get a rough sense of what you're sitting on.
Move the sliders and pick your systems. This is a simple illustrative heuristic, not an offer. It's meant to answer one question: is this worth a conversation? Real numbers come only from labs competing for your dataset.
- More systemsChat, docs and email together show a fuller picture of work.
- More historySeveral years show how processes change over time.
- Unique workflowsWell-documented, specialized work matters more than raw size.
We're focused on 20+ employees, but specialized datasets are considered case by case.
Illustrative only. This is a rough heuristic, not an offer, quote or guarantee. Real offers depend on lab demand, data quality and uniqueness, de-identification scope, and terms.
Could a pre-filing deal be unwound later?
Transfers before a bankruptcy can be reviewed, for example as fraudulent transfers if made for less than reasonably equivalent value while insolvent. A marketed process at fair value, with counsel involved, is the best protection.
We're doing an ABC, not a bankruptcy. Does this work?
An assignee for the benefit of creditors can generally sell assets under state law. The process differs from a 363 sale, so involve the assignee's counsel.
Can a company in Chapter 11 sell or license its data?
Generally yes. Data the debtor owns is property of the estate under Section 541. A debtor in possession can use or sell estate property in the ordinary course, but a sale or license outside the ordinary course, which a data transaction usually is, requires notice and a hearing under Section 363(b). In practice your counsel files a motion and the court approves the transaction if it reflects sound business judgment and a fair process. How court approval works
How much could it bring in?
For US companies with real operating history, our illustrative range is up to $50K to $1M+. The amount depends on the systems included, years of history, how specialized the work is, how much must be excluded for contract or privacy reasons, and buyer demand at the time. We never promise a price; the number comes from competing bids and the court's approval.
Who buys it, and why?
AI developers that train and evaluate models on realistic business work. They want the record of how work gets done (workflows, decisions, handoffs), not the identities of the people involved, which is why everything is de-identified before delivery. We don't name buyers publicly; you and, where required, the court will know the buyer before anything closes.
Guides for distressed companies
Read before you decide
Data sales in an assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC)
How an assignee in an ABC, or a company in an out-of-court workout, can sell or license operational data, and how it differs from a Section 363 sale.
Read guide · 3 min
Raising cash in Chapter 11 without new debt
Ways a Chapter 11 debtor can raise cash without a new loan: cash collateral, collecting receivables, rejecting costly contracts, non-core asset sales and data licensing.
Read guide · 3 min
A turnaround advisor's guide to data monetization
For CROs, financial advisors and turnaround consultants: when to raise data monetization, how it fits the 13-week cash flow, and how to run it alongside a sale process.
Read guide · 3 minYour next hearing is on the calendar. Your data's value isn't. Let's fix that.
Free, confidential and fast: a read on what your data could bring, what has to stay out, and what the court will need to see. You and, where required, the court approve before anything is shared.