PewterFor owners of established US firms
Your firm's records could earn license fees from AI developers.
Labs license de-identified copies of the email, files and operating records firms already keep. Deals published in 2026 ran from about $110,000 to $1.2 million, and some firms receive less or no offer. Pewter sizes your records, brings you a written offer from our licensing partner and coordinates the deal through payment.
Indicative range
Example: a 100-person firm, 10 years in business. Move the sliders for yours.
A scenario, not a valuation. Many firms are offered less, and some receive no offer once their records are reviewed.
Get a real estimateRange from our licensing partner's payout model for US firms (October 2026), using headcount and years in business only. What your records hold, who owns them and what a buyer accepts decide the real number.
Published deals in the market
Reported by our licensing partner, October 2026. Pewter did not advise on these deals.
Freight broker · 100 people
$650K
Rate quotes, shipment documents, dispatch records, delivery exceptions and claims.
Estimate a logistics firmEngineering firm · 70 people
$450K
CAD drawings, calculations, technical reports, revisions and specifications.
Estimate an engineering firmAccounting firm · 60 people
$350K
Five years of workpapers, reconciliations, financial models and tax files.
Estimate 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 from public text. What they can't 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. So the labs started paying for it: Google's winning bid for Spirit Airlines' records was $10 million, and firms a fraction of that size have been paid in the hundreds of thousands. See the market evidence.
Who does what
You stay in control. We do the legwork.
Pewter is your point of contact from the first estimate to payment. Our licensing partner makes the offer, signs the license with you and pays you.
What you do
A few hours
- Answer a few questionsTwo minutes, no files or logins.
- Take two or three callsAbout 30 minutes each.
- Fill in a short data inventoryWhich systems you use, and for how many years.
- Approve a sample and the termsYour lawyer reads the agreement. Nothing is licensed until you sign.
What we handle
- SizingWe tell you plainly whether your records are likely to sell.
- The offer and negotiationOur licensing partner makes the offer; we bring it to you in writing and work through price, scope and exclusivity.
- Export and de-identificationCoordinated with your IT person. Identifying details are removed before delivery.
- Closing and paymentWe track each milestone in the agreement through payment.
No offer, no cost
Asking costs you nothing
No fee to the owner at any stage, and you can walk away at any point. Before an offer we may ask, with your permission, to review a small sample to check quality. The full export happens only after you approve the terms in writing. How we handle records.
What actually leaves your building
Your clients and staff are taken out of what's licensed
Identifying details are removed or replaced with consistent placeholders before delivery, so the work survives and the people don't. 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.
No de-identification method removes every risk. You review the process and a de-identified sample before you sign, and you can exclude regulated, privileged or third-party records. Read how we handle records.
Illustrative example; names are fictional.
Is your firm a fit?
What makes records a likely fit
- 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, winding down or closed, as long as the records exist.
Records that show skilled work step by step are in highest demand: logistics, accounting, engineering, construction, distribution, manufacturing, trades and professional services. Regulated, privileged or third-party records may be excluded, and meeting these points doesn't guarantee an offer.
Who you'll work with
Meet the team
Three enterprise sellers who have spent their careers inside the buying decisions of large companies. Chelunor and Troy met as sales interns at Gartner; Troy and Nick later sold together at OpenWater. Pewter Data launched in October 2026. More about us.
Chelunor (Lawrence) Nwajei
Managing Partner · New York
A decade in enterprise sales at Dell, Adobe and Salesforce, selling data and AI products to CIOs, security and legal teams. Leads seller relationships and deal structure.
LinkedIn
Nick Konstantinidis
Managing Partner · St. Pete Beach
Co-founder of BuzzLead, where Nick runs research and targeting; previously at OpenWater and Paychex. Leads market research and seller sourcing.
LinkedIn
Troy Aitken, MBA
Managing Partner · St. Pete Beach
Began at Gartner, then sold at OpenWater and Flock Safety before co-founding BuzzLead. Runs outreach and the commercial process.
LinkedInFor AI labs and data buyers
Buying data? Tell us what you need next.
We work with owners of established US firms whose operating records can't be found on the open web. Describe the sector, workflow and volume you need, and we'll tell you honestly whether we can source it.
- Real operating recordsEmail, tickets, documents and system records from logistics, accounting, engineering, distribution, trades and services firms.
- Owners who have said yesEvery firm approves its terms and exclusions in writing before anything is delivered.
- De-identified, on written termsIdentifying details are removed before delivery, and scope and permitted use are set in a license agreement.
Before you ask
What owners ask on the first call
Is this real money, or a pitch?
The market is real. Our licensing partner reports paying $350,000 to $650,000 to firms of 60 to 100 people, and Google's $10 million winning bid for Spirit Airlines' records is in a federal court filing. Those are other firms' deals, not ours. Your offer comes in writing before you commit to anything, and many firms are offered less than these figures.
What does this cost me?
Nothing, at any stage. Pewter is paid a fee by our licensing partner when a deal closes. If there's no deal, there's no fee.
Who does what, and who do you work for?
Pewter finds and qualifies the opportunity, sizes your records, brings you the offer and coordinates the deal. Our licensing partner makes the offer, signs the license with you and pays you; you learn who it is before you sign anything. Because the partner pays our fee, we are not your lawyer or your agent. We are not a law firm or a registered broker-dealer, and we encourage you to have your own counsel review the agreement.
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. How we handle records.
Who sees my records before I sign?
No one, unless you agree. To check quality before an offer, we may ask for a small sample, and Pewter or the licensing partner may review it. You choose what goes in the sample, and you can say no. The full export happens only after 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. Our free owner's guide, Before You Sell Your Data, lists the terms and questions to settle before you sign.
How much of my team's time does it take?
A few hours of yours: two or three calls and a short inventory of the systems you use. If an export is needed, your IT person or provider runs it and we coordinate. 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. If you'd rather size it yourself first, our free guide shows where the numbers live in Google, Microsoft 365, Slack and a dozen other tools.
Why act now?
Labs are buying now. One AI data company 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.
Get an estimate
Find out whether your records would sell
Indicative range
$385K to $895K
Example: 100 employees · 10 years in business
- We call within one business dayLawrence or Troy, to learn what you have and give you a realistic view.
- Held in confidenceNo files requested. Your firm's details go to our licensing partner only so it can prepare an offer.
- No offer, no costYou can walk away at any point before signing.