Handshake, the $3.3 billion AI data labeling platform, just acquired Cleanlab in a strategic acquihire that brings nine key researchers in-house. The deal, which beat out competing offers from other AI data labeling companies, signals intensifying consolidation in the critical infrastructure powering today's AI models. Cleanlab's MIT-trained team pioneered algorithms that automatically audit data quality without human reviewers, a capability Handshake needs as it races toward hundreds of millions in revenue serving eight major AI labs including OpenAI.
Handshake just made a calculated bet on AI data quality, and it beat out several rivals to do it. The company, best known for connecting college students with employers since 2013, has acquired Cleanlab, a startup focused on auditing the accuracy of AI training data, TechCrunch reports.
The deal is structured as an acquihire, bringing nine key Cleanlab employees into Handshake's research organization. Among them are the startup's three co-founders, all MIT computer science PhDs: Curtis Northcutt, Jonas Mueller, and Anish Athalya. While financial terms weren't disclosed, acquihires can be surprisingly lucrative for founders, especially when multiple suitors are involved.
Cleanlab wasn't hurting for options. Northcutt told TechCrunch the company fielded acquisition interest from several AI data labeling competitors. But Handshake had a unique advantage: it's the talent marketplace that other data labeling companies, including Mercor, Surge, and Scale AI, use to find specialized human labelers like doctors, lawyers, and scientists for their own projects.
