Updated 8 Nov 2026
Speech and audio training data companies in 2026, ranked by revenue.
The largest speech data companies by revenue on record are Surge AI ($1.2B, FY2024), micro1 ($1B, run rate, Oct 2026), Innodata ($350M, 12 months to Sep 2026), Appen ($249M, 12 months to Jun 2026) and AfterQuery ($100M, run rate, Apr 2026). They record, transcribe and license speech and audio for voice models, in many languages and accents.
38 companies on our register say on their own pages that they work on speech and audio. 20 have revenue, a valuation or funding on record and are ranked below, every figure linked to the filing or article it comes from. Also called speech data providers, audio dataset vendors.
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The largest speech data companies by revenue
The 5 with the most revenue on record, each bar linked to the record it comes from.
The latest money moves
The newest rounds, valuations and revenue figures among these companies, each linked to its record.
- 5 Nov 2026Innodata reported $350M revenue (12 months to Sep 2026)
- 27 Oct 2026CVAT raised $2M
- 14 Oct 2026Labelbox raised $100M at a $1.3B valuation
- 12 Oct 2026micro1 was valued at $4B valuation
- 12 Oct 2026micro1 reported $1B revenue (run rate, Oct 2026)
- 23 Sep 2026micro1 raised $100M at a $4B valuation
Best for each kind of work
For each thing they sell, the highest-ranked company on this list that names it on its own pages: the largest by the money on record, and how many here do the same work.
- Best for datasetsSurge AI, $1.2B (FY2024): the largest of the 16 here that sell datasets.
- Best for expert and human dataSurge AI, $1.2B (FY2024): the largest of the 16 here that sell expert and human data.
- Best for evaluations and benchmarksSurge AI, $1.2B (FY2024): the largest of the 16 here that sell evaluations and benchmarks.
- Best for RL environmentsSurge AI, $1.2B (FY2024): the largest of the 9 here that sell RL environments.
- Best for annotationInnodata, $350M (12 months to Sep 2026): the largest of the 14 here that sell annotation.
- Best for labeling softwareInnodata, $350M (12 months to Sep 2026): the largest of the 7 here that sell labeling software.
The ranking: 20 speech data companies
Each company is ranked on the first of these it has on record: its revenue over twelve months (a run rate or a year as published, or its last four quarters added up; an AI segment where the rest of its business is not AI data), then its newest valuation, then the money it disclosed raising. No company pays for a place.
| # | Company | Ranked on | Measure | Valuation | Sells | Pays companies for data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surge AI | $1.2B | Revenue, FY2024 | RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks | ||
| 2 | micro1 | $1B | Revenue, run rate, Oct 2026 | $4B | RL environments, Evaluations and benchmarks, Expert and human data, Datasets | Through our introductions |
| 3 | Innodata | $350M | Revenue, 12 months to Sep 2026 | Labeling software, RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation | ||
| 4 | Appen | $249M | Revenue, 12 months to Jun 2026 | Labeling software, Datasets, Expert and human data, RL environments, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation | Its own programme | |
| 5 | AfterQuery | $100M | Revenue, run rate, Apr 2026 | $3.2B | RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks | Through our introductions |
| 6 | Labelbox | $1.3B | Valuation, 2026 | RL environments, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks | Its own programme | |
| 7 | Encord | $90M | Money raised, disclosed | Labeling software, Annotation, Expert and human data, Datasets, Evaluations and benchmarks | ||
| 8 | Defined.ai | $62.3M | Money raised, disclosed | Datasets, Expert and human data, Annotation, Evaluations and benchmarks | Its own programme | |
| 9 | David AI | $50M | Money raised, disclosed | Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks | ||
| 10 | SuperAnnotate | $49.5M | Money raised, disclosed | Labeling software, Expert and human data, RL environments, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation, Datasets | Its own programme | |
| 11 | Kili Technology | $32M | Money raised, disclosed | Labeling software, Annotation, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks | ||
| 12 | Luel | $31.2M | Money raised, disclosed | Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation | ||
| 13 | Deccan AI | $25M | Money raised, disclosed | RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation | ||
| 14 | iMerit | $23.5M | Money raised, disclosed | Labeling software, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation, Datasets | ||
| 15 | Perle AI | $9M | Money raised, disclosed | Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation | ||
| 16 | Veris AI | $8.5M | Money raised, disclosed | Evaluations and benchmarks, RL environments | ||
| 17 | Human Archive | $8.2M | Money raised, disclosed | Datasets, Expert and human data, Annotation | ||
| 18 | clickworker | $6M | Money raised, disclosed | Datasets, Annotation | ||
| 19 | Troveo | $4.5M | Money raised, disclosed | Datasets, Annotation | Its own programme | |
| 20 | CVAT | $2M | Money raised, disclosed | Labeling software, Annotation |
- Twelve months.
- A run rate or ARR is the company's own annualised figure, often its best month times twelve; a year is the year it published. Where a company reports quarters or halves, the last four quarters or two halves are added up. Gross revenue of a human data company includes what it pays its experts.
- Who is on it.
- A company is on this list when its own pages say it does this work, read word for word. It is not on it because we chose it, and none pays to be here.
- Your place, on your site.
- Every ranked company has a badge of its place, kept current with this page: the address is /badges/speech-data-companies/ followed by the company's id in its page's address, as in Surge AI's. Link it to this page.
- Pays companies for data.
- "Through our introductions": it takes companies' data through AIData.Broker's introductions and pays us a referral fee when one goes ahead. That never moves its place: the order is the money on record. "Its own programme": a published programme for buying data. "Says it buys data": its own words, linked.
Head to head
The comparisons people search between companies on this list, side by side on the same figures.
More answers
- Which are the largest speech data companies?
- By the money on record: Surge AI, $1.2B (FY2024); micro1, $1B (run rate, Oct 2026); Innodata, $350M (12 months to Sep 2026). 5 of the 38 on the list have revenue on record; the others are ranked on their valuation or the money they raised.
- Is micro1 the biggest of the speech data companies?
- By valuation, yes: micro1 was valued at $4B (Oct 2026). By revenue on record, Surge AI is larger: $1.2B (FY2024), against $1B (run rate, Oct 2026) for micro1.
- Which speech data companies buy data from companies?
- 9 of them take data from companies that hold it, on a published programme or in their own words: micro1, Appen, AfterQuery, Labelbox, Defined.ai, SuperAnnotate, Troveo, Abaka AI and Sieve. A company holding such data can value it free and be introduced to every one whose rules take it.
- How many speech data companies are there?
- 38 companies on our register say on their own pages that they work on speech and audio. 20 of them have revenue, a valuation or funding on record, and are ranked; the rest are listed by name.
- How is this list ranked?
- Each company is ranked on the first of these it has on record: its revenue over twelve months (a run rate or a year as published, or its last four quarters added up; an AI segment where the rest of its business is not AI data), then its newest valuation, then the money it disclosed raising. No company pays for a place.
Other rankings
The same rule, other parts of the market, and every company on one page: the market map.
- Best AI data labs and human data companiesLargest: Mercor
- RL environment companiesLargest: Mercor
- Best data labeling companiesLargest: Handshake AI
- Best data labeling platformsLargest: Scale AI
- AI evaluation companiesLargest: Mercor
- Best AI training data providersLargest: Mercor
- Coding data companies for AILargest: Mercor
- Robotics training data companiesLargest: Scale AI
- Medical AI training data companiesLargest: Mercor
- Video and image training data companiesLargest: Surge AI
- Finance AI training data companiesLargest: Mercor
- Legal AI training data companiesLargest: Mercor
- AI red teaming and security data companiesLargest: Proximal
- Multilingual training data providersLargest: Surge AI
- Synthetic training data companiesLargest: Mercor
- Best AI data collection companiesLargest: Innodata
- Computer-use agent data companiesLargest: Scale AI
Cite this
AIData.Broker, “Speech and audio training data companies in 2026, ranked by revenue”, reviewed 8 Nov 2026. https://aidata.broker/best/speech-data-companies
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