Snorkel AI, a startup specializing in AI training datasets and simulated environments, announced a $350 million Series E funding round that values the company at $3.5 billion. This nearly triples its $1.3 billion valuation from a $100 million Series D round raised 17 months ago. The round was led by Insight Partners and S32, with participation from existing investors including Addition, Lightspeed, Greylock, GV, and Wells Fargo.
Originally focused on automating data labeling, Snorkel shifted last year to providing fully prepared datasets through a data-as-a-service model. This approach combines synthetic data generation via software and models with input from subject matter experts, moving beyond a pure human expert marketplace.
The company reports an annualized revenue run rate of $375 million, marking an eighteenfold increase over the past year. This rapid growth reflects the expanding need for high-quality training data by AI labs and corporations.
Other firms in the AI data space have also seen significant revenue growth, with Mercor reaching $2 billion, Handshake surpassing $1 billion, and Micro1 scaling to $500 million in gross annualized revenue. However, these figures include substantial payouts to domain specialists, which reduce net revenue.
Snorkel distinguishes itself by selling reinforcement learning environments and complete datasets rather than human labor, categorizing payments to experts as cost of goods sold rather than revenue.
Founded by CEO Alex Ratner and his team after four years of research at Stanford, Snorkel launched commercially in 2019 and has since become a key player in the AI training data market.