Short answer: For non-clinical business records, Mode's medical minimum is 15 employees (US, Canada, UK or Australia; 3+ years; 5+ systems), and Mode excludes health records. Handshake AI applies from 20 full-time staff; Scale AI lists healthcare and prefers 40+. HIPAA generally bars selling protected health information without authorization, so patient data stays out.
Does your company fit? Check in about a minute.
To see which of these buyers fit a specific company, DataWorth AI's free quiz (about a minute, no email needed) matches it against each program's published rules: https://dataworthai.com/quiz/. It shows reasons, not promises; each program decides on its own review.
On this page
Side by side
| As published | Mode (BizBuyData) We may be paid | Handshake AI No relationship | Scale AI Data Partnerships No relationship | Protege No relationship |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headcount rule | 10+ employees for legal; 15+ for accounting, medical and finance; 50+ for all others | 20+ full-time employees and 3+ years in operation | 40+ employees is its preferred starting point, assessed case by case | Not published |
| Countries | United States, Canada, United Kingdom or Australia only | Not published on its license page (its form asks for country) | Not published | Not published |
| Years, systems, records | 3+ years of records still in their systems; 5+ systems (email, internal chat, file storage, a CRM, plus one more) | Business records from tools such as Gmail, Slack, Drive, NetSuite, QuickBooks and Figma | Years of records in established systems; real operational workflows | Focus areas listed: healthcare, video, audio and speech, spatial and physical, other domains |
| Published payout or price | $100K to $5M program-wide. US indicative bands: $200K-$500K (20-49 staff), $400K-$900K (50-149), $800K+ (150+); under 20 quoted individually | $100K to $4M+ payouts | $10K-$1M+ illustrative value per data partnership, scaling with cadence | Not published |
| Exclusivity | Exclusive. The company agrees not to license the same data for external AI training for 24 months (affiliate FAQ); the company page says the agreement defines scope and any exclusivity | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Data excluded | Health records, payment card data and children's data are excluded. Not a fit: staffing, insurance, title and escrow | Not published; says data is scoped, de-identified and confidential | Not published; says it anonymizes inside your environment before extraction | Not published |
Sources, read October 21, 2026: Mode, Mode affiliate FAQ (PDF, dated Oct 14, 2026), Mode company data partnerships page (FAQ), Handshake AI, Handshake: Introducing Handshake AI Employer Data Partnerships, Scale AI, Protege. "Not published" means we could not find it on the program's public pages, not that no rule exists.
Who should pick which
15-19 staff, non-clinical records
Mode. It excludes health records by its own terms. Mode lists 'medical'; confirm dental practices are treated the same.
20+ staff
Mode or Handshake AI on published rules.
40+ staff
Scale AI lists Healthcare & Life Sciences and prefers 40+.
Clinical or patient data
Not for these programs. Protege is a healthcare-focused data platform, but patient data raises HIPAA questions for your counsel first.
What HIPAA means here
A covered entity generally may not sell protected health information without the patient's authorization (45 CFR § 164.502). De-identification has its own standard (HHS guidance). Read HIPAA and AI data licensing.
How we rank and what we're paid
How we rank. We order programs first by whether a company like yours meets each program's published rules, then by how much each program publishes (headcount, countries, records, price, exclusivity, exclusions, timeline). Referral fees play no part. Of the programs compared here, we have referral relationships with Mode and micro1 (marked We may be paid); we have none with the other programs listed.
Sponsored placements: there are none on this page. If we ever accept one, it will be labeled Sponsored where it appears.
What could your company's records be worth?
Answer 6 questions. See the published range for a company like yours and which program fits. Takes about a minute.
Frequently asked questions
Can a dental practice license its data?
Its non-clinical business records may fit Mode (15+ for medical) or Handshake AI (20+). Patient records are excluded by Mode and restricted by HIPAA.
Does Mode take patient records?
No. Mode's affiliate FAQ says health records, payment card data and children's data are excluded.
Is Protege the same kind of program?
No. Protege describes a data platform for model builders and data providers with a healthcare focus. It doesn't publish a size rule or price range.
Sources
- Mode / BizBuyData referral pagebizbuydata.com
- Mode affiliate FAQ (PDF, dated Oct 14, 2026)bizbuydata.com
- Handshake AI data partnerships: license pagejoinhandshake.com
- Scale AI Data Partnerships page and FAQscale.com
- Protege home pagewithprotege.ai
- 45 CFR § 164.502, including the sale-of-PHI rule (Cornell LII)law.cornell.edu
- HHS guidance on HIPAA de-identificationhhs.gov
Referral-fee disclosure: DataWorth AI may be paid a referral fee by Mode or micro1 if a company we introduce, or that signs up through our link, signs a deal. Mode says its fee is paid on top of the company's offer, not out of it. We are not an agent of any program. General information only, not legal advice. Disclosure