Scale AI’s Top Rival Hits More Than $1 Billion in Sales

Surge AI had more than $1 billion in sales last year, more than the revenue generated by its much talked-about competitor in data labelling, Scale AI. Last year, Scale AI had $870 million.

There are other stark differences between the two startups: Surge is profitable, while Scale isn’t. And while Scale has accumulated more than a billion dollars in venture capital, Surge doesn’t have any investors.

Surge’s quiet dominance over Scale casts some doubt on Meta Platforms’ recent decision to invest $14.3 billion for 49% of Scale, which may not be as competitive in the data labelling industry as it might’ve appeared. Data labelling companies are hired by AI developers like Google and OpenAI to teach their models the difference between good and bad content and grade what the models can produce.