When Bench Accounting, a Vancouver bookkeeping company, went bankrupt in January 2025, its trustee described its main assets as its customer base, its technology platform and its staff1. A company's records have long been part of what it can sell. What is new is who is buying. AI companies now pay Canadian companies $100,000 to more than $2 million to license their internal records, and the company keeps its data.
General information about licensing company data to AI buyers, drawn from published buyer pricing and the court record. Not legal, tax or financial advice about your situation. Proceedings introduces companies to data buyers and is paid a referral fee by the buyer.
Why are AI companies paying for company data?#
Because they need real examples of business work, and those examples exist only inside companies. AI labs are building systems to do everyday office work, and public websites rarely show how that work gets done.
A company's own records do. Take a customer complaint. It arrives by email, becomes a support ticket, is discussed by the team in chat, and ends with a manager approving a refund. Years of records like these, across thousands of cases, show an AI how real decisions get made.
That is what labs, and the data companies that supply them, are paying for. The sums are large because the supply is limited: every company's records are its own, and the best of them cover many people over many years.
The largest deals so far have come out of insolvency. In the Spirit Airlines case, an airline's email, chat and internal files went to auction alongside its other assets, and several data buyers bid against each other.
What kinds of company data do buyers want?#
Records that show how work actually gets done, across years and across connected systems. Buyers pay most for discussion and decisions, not for automated messages.
What buyers look for
- Email and team chat, where requests arrive and decisions get discussed.
- Support tickets and project records, which show work moving from start to finish.
- Documents, policies and procedures, which show how a company is meant to work.
- Code and its history, for software companies.
- Industry systems, such as claims, orders, scheduling or dispatch records.
What adds value
Buyers price a company's records on a handful of things. The chart below sets out each one, from what is worth less to what is worth more.
ExclusivityWhat labs want most
Labs want data their competitors can't use.
Worth less: Licensed to several buyers
Worth more: Licensed to one lab only
Size
More people over more years means more work on record.
Worth less: 10 people over 2 years
Worth more: 150 people over 10 years
Connected systems
Records that link across systems show a whole piece of work.
Worth less: Email only
Worth more: Email, chat and tickets that refer to each other
Content
Buyers value discussion and decisions most.
Worth less: Automated notifications and newsletters
Worth more: Discussions, escalations and decisions
Industry
Buyers name some industries as targets.
Worth less: Hospitality, general retail
Worth more: Software, finance, legal, healthcare
Language
Buyers license English-language records today.
Worth less: French
Worth more: English
Completeness
Deleted records can't be licensed.
Worth less: Systems shut down, partial exports
Worth more: Systems still running, full history
What buyers don't want
- Automated messages, such as system notifications and newsletters, which show no human judgment.
- Very small collections. Buyers' enterprise programs look for companies that had 30 or more employees.
- Records that no longer exist. Data deleted when a subscription lapsed can't be licensed.
English and French records
Buyers are licensing English-language records today. A Québec company whose records are mostly in French will find much less demand for now, and a company with records in both languages is valued on its English share.
How much is a company's data worth?#
Usually somewhere between $50,000 and $2 million, and the buyer sets the final figure after reviewing the records. Size, connected systems, industry, language and exclusivity decide where a company lands.
Proceedings' estimate places a company in one of seven bands, the same way a buyer's first look does: how many people, over how many years, in how many connected systems, in which industry and language, and on what licence terms.
- Under $50K
- $50K–$100K
- $100K–$300K
- $300K–$600K
- $600K–$1M
- $1M–$2M
- $2M+
The table shows where some typical companies land. These are indicative bands from the estimate, not offers.
| Company | Records | Typical band |
|---|---|---|
| 5 to 9 people, software | 2 to 4 years of chat, code and documents | Under $50K |
| 30 to 49 people, any industry | 5 to 9 years of email and chat | $100K–$300K |
| 50 to 99 people, software | 5 to 9 years across email, chat, tickets, code and documents | $300K–$600K |
| 100 to 249 people, financial services | 10 to 19 years across most systems | $1M–$2M |
| 500 people or more, insurance | 20 years or more, licensed to one lab only | $2M+ |
A company's own estimate takes about three minutes and needs no sign-up.
Free · About three minutes · Nothing shared
Start with an estimate of what your company’s data is worth.
Choose where the company stands. About ten short questions give you an indicative value range, the recommended buyer and the next steps.
Is it a sale or a licence?#
Usually a licence. The company keeps ownership and keeps using its records, and the buyer pays for the right to use a copy on the terms of the contract.
Nothing is removed from the company's systems. The company can usually review samples of what would be used before anything is.
Exclusive or non-exclusive
Most labs want an exclusive licence: the records go to one lab only, so its competitors can't use the same data. That is why exclusive licences pay more.
A non-exclusive licence lets the company license the same records to more than one buyer, usually for less each time. Either way, the company keeps ownership.
Who does the work after signing?#
The buyer does. The company's part is giving access to the systems that hold the records, so the buyer can take a copy.
The buyer then copies the records, removes personal and identifying details, and turns them into practice tasks for its own AI. The company does not build, label or review anything. It is paid for the licence and has no further role.
After signing
It gives access
To the systems that hold the records, so the buyer can take a copy. The company's systems stay as they are, and its staff keep working.
Copying and anonymizing
The buyer copies the records and removes personal and identifying details.
Turning records into training tasks
It turns the records into practice tasks for its AI, based on real requests and decisions.
Training its AI
Its AI practises those tasks until it can do similar work.
What about privacy?#
Canadian privacy law, including Québec's, applies to personal information in company records. In practice, the buyer's team removes personal and identifying details before anything is used, and the buyer's lawyers decide what can be used.
Those terms are written into the contract the company signs. A company with questions about its own obligations should put them to its lawyer before signing.
How does a data licence work, step by step?#
In six steps, and the company applies to the buyer and signs with it directly. Proceedings explains the options and helps with the application.
- Estimate. The company answers a few questions and sees an indicative value range.
- A conversation about the options. Proceedings explains what the buyer looks for, what the records could be worth, and how the process works.
- The application. The company applies to the buyer directly, through Proceedings' introduction. Proceedings helps prepare it: what to include, how to describe the records, and what the buyer is likely to ask.
- Review and offer. The buyer reviews the application and samples of the records, then makes a detailed offer.
- Contract and access. The company signs with the buyer and gives it access to the systems that hold the records.
- Payment. The buyer pays the company as the contract sets out, usually once the data is delivered or accepted.
What does the buyer ask for in an application?#
Mostly facts the company already knows: how many people, over how many years, using which systems. The buyer then reviews samples of the records before it makes an offer.
Expect to answer questions like these:
- Headcount, today and at the company's peak.
- Years of records, and roughly when each system was adopted.
- The systems that hold records, and about how much each holds: messages, tickets, documents or code.
- The work recorded: the industry, and the kind of decisions the records show.
- The language mix, as a rough share of English and French.
- Access: who holds admin rights, and whether the subscriptions are still active.
- Licence terms the company would accept, including whether it would license to one lab only.
Proceedings helps put these answers together so the application describes the records accurately and anticipates the buyer's questions.
Who at the company should be involved?#
Whoever makes the decision, someone who runs the company's systems, and the company's lawyer. After a filing, add the court officer from the start.
- The owner or board, who decides whether to license and on what terms, and who signs.
- Finance, usually the CFO, who weighs the timing of the money against the company's other options.
- The systems administrator, who knows what each system holds, keeps admin access, and gives the buyer access after signing.
- The company's lawyer, who reviews the contract before it is signed.
- The court officer, if the company has filed: the monitor or proposal trustee, or the trustee or receiver who decides.
What should a company check before applying?#
That it controls the records, that they are still complete, and how much of them is in English. Each one changes what a buyer will pay.
- Control. The accounts should be in the company's name, with a current administrator who can export the data.
- Completeness. Check that older records haven't been deleted, and that retention settings aren't deleting them now.
- Language. Estimate the English share of email and chat.
- Other people's material. Records include customers' and suppliers' documents. Note where they sit, so the buyer's lawyers can decide what can be used.
How long does it take, and what does it cost?#
Usually a few weeks from application to offer, and payment follows signing. It costs the company nothing when Proceedings makes the introduction.
The estimate takes minutes, and a first conversation can happen within days. The buyer's review and offer usually take a few weeks, and payment usually follows delivery or acceptance of the data.
The buyer pays Proceedings a percentage of what the company receives, separately from what it pays the company. Before anything is signed, Proceedings says who pays it and how its fee is calculated. How Proceedings works with companies.
Can a company in financial difficulty sell its data?#
Yes, and before any filing it is simplest. The board decides on its own, and the money goes to the company to use as it needs.
A licence is not a loan. Nothing is repaid, no security is taken, and the company keeps its records. For a company that needs liquidity within weeks, it can sit alongside a bridge loan or new equity rather than replace them.
Licensing before a filing also protects the value. The records are still live, and the staff who know the systems are still there to give the buyer access. Data licensing before a filing.
Can a company in CCAA, a proposal, bankruptcy or receivership sell its data?#
Yes. A company's records are property like any other, and court officers sell intangible assets with the approval the proceeding requires.
What changes is who signs and who approves. A company in CCAA or a proposal still runs its business, but a sale outside the ordinary course needs the court's approval (CCAA, s. 36; BIA, s. 65.13). In a bankruptcy the trustee sells, with the inspectors' permission (BIA, s. 30). A receiver sells under its appointment order. For how the proceedings differ, see CCAA vs bankruptcy vs receivership.
CCAA
Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act
- Who signs
- The company signs, with the monitor involved.
- Approval
- The court approves a licence outside the ordinary course of business, usually on the monitor's report.
- First step
- Management involves the monitor from the start.
Proposal or notice of intention
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, Division I
- Who signs
- The company signs, with the proposal trustee involved.
- Approval
- The court approves a licence outside the ordinary course of business, usually on the proposal trustee's report.
- First step
- Management involves the proposal trustee from the start.
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act
- Who signs
- The trustee signs: the company's property, its data included, is the trustee's to deal with.
- Approval
- The inspectors approve the licence.
- First step
- Management shares this page with the trustee, who makes the decision.
Receivership
Court-appointed or private
- Who signs
- The receiver signs.
- Approval
- In a court-appointed receivership, the court approves as the receivership order requires. A private receiver, appointed under a security agreement, usually needs no court approval.
- First step
- Management shares this page with the receiver, who makes the decision.
Records already sell in Canadian insolvencies
Court officers already sell company records as part of a business's intangible assets. Bench Accounting's trustee, KSV, sold the business to Recruiter.com Ventures for C$13 million after the inspectors approved the sale on March 4, 20252. Its report explained what was being sold:
As a service business, the Companies' primary assets are their highlighted: intangible property, being their customer base, technology platform and employees.
In August 2026, the monitor of Coast Wholesale Appliances, a B.C. appliance retailer in CCAA, agreed to sell the company's intangible assets to Trail Appliances3. The court approved the sale two days after the application4. The monitor described the assets this way:
The Proposed Transaction contemplates the sale, on an "as is, where is" basis, of the Debtors' Intangible Assets, including brand and trademarks, domain names, social media accounts, highlighted: customer data … website and digital content, search engine optimization assets, and marketing and advertising materials
Neither sale was to an AI buyer. Both show that a company's records are an asset a court officer can sell, with the approval the proceeding needs. Data licensing after a filing.
Why does timing matter after a filing?#
Because records disappear when the subscriptions that hold them lapse. Microsoft 365 deletes a lapsed business account's data about 120 days after the subscription ends, and Atlassian deletes a cancelled Jira or Confluence site after 60 days.
Staff leave too, and with them the people who know where the records are and how to give a buyer access. A licence started in the first weeks after a filing has more to offer than one started months later.
- Day 0
Subscription lapses
The records are still there, and admins can still export them.
- Day 30
Microsoft 365 disabled
Users are locked out. Only admins can reach and back up the data.
- Day 60
Atlassian site deleted
Jira and Confluence data on a cancelled site is gone.
- Day 120
Microsoft 365 deleted
Email, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive data is gone.
Days after a business subscription lapses, as Microsoft and Atlassian publish them. Keep admin access, keep the subscriptions that hold records active, and take full exports.
What to do now#
Start with the estimate, then keep the records reachable while you decide. If the company has filed, involve the court officer from the start.
Free · About three minutes · Nothing shared
Start with an estimate of what your company’s data is worth.
Choose where the company stands. About ten short questions give you an indicative value range, the recommended buyer and the next steps.
How to find the case#
If a company you work with is in a proceeding, search for its case by name to see its court officer, its filings and its next hearing. The court officer named there is who decides, or who has to be involved, in any licence.
Questions people ask#
Can a company sell its data to AI companies in Canada?
Yes. A company can license records it owns or controls. The buyer's lawyers settle how personal information is handled and what can be used, and that is written into the contract.
How much do AI companies pay for company data?
Buyers offer $100,000 to more than $2 million for approved data packages. A small company with a few years of records usually lands under $50,000.
Does the company lose its data?
No. A licence gives the buyer the right to use a copy. The company keeps ownership and keeps using its records.
Can a small company sell its data?
Usually not yet. Buyers' enterprise programs look for companies that had 30 or more employees, though that is changing as demand grows.
Do French-language records have value?
Not much today. Buyers are licensing English-language records, so a company with records in both languages is valued on its English share.
What happens if the company files after signing a licence?
A licence is a contract like any other. Tell your restructuring advisers about it so they can take it into account.
Who handles anonymization?
The buyer. Its team removes personal and identifying details before anything is used, and its lawyers decide what can be used.
Sources#
Court filings
- Bench Accounting. First Report of the Trustee, Mar. 5, 2025, s. 3.0, para. 3 ↩
- Bench Accounting. First Report of the Trustee, Mar. 5, 2025, s. 4.1, para. 1(c), and appendix F ↩
- Coast Wholesale Appliances. Second Report of the Monitor, Aug. 5, 2026, para. 13.7 ↩
- Coast Wholesale Appliances. Stay Extension and Sale Approval and Vesting Order, Aug. 7, 2026 (no para.) ↩
Laws and official pages
- Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, s. 36: sale of assets outside the ordinary course.
- Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, s. 65.13: sale of assets during a proposal.
- Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, s. 30: a trustee's powers, with the inspectors' permission.
- Microsoft: what happens to data when a Microsoft 365 business subscription ends.
- Atlassian support documentation on data retention for cancelled cloud sites.
The full record#
These are the Canadian insolvency filings in the record Proceedings follows from industries AI buyers target, by the year the proceeding began, to October 16, 2026. "All filings" counts every filing in the record with an industry recorded. The first table is free.
| Year | Filings in industries buyers target | All filings | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 40 | 322 | 12% |
| 2023 | 83 | 531 | 16% |
| 2024 | 106 | 760 | 14% |
| 2025 | 92 | 750 | 12% |
| 2026, to Oct. 16 | 69 | 616 | 11% |
The breakdown by industry and by proceeding is for subscribers.
Keep reading: 7 days for $9
The full table: 22 rows, every figure cited to the filing it came from.
$9 today, then $99 a month from day 8. Cancel anytime.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
See all plans