Polyshares data licensing review: how it buys and what to ask

Polyshares says it buys licenses to company records itself, as the counterparty, and pays $100K to $2M or more, net 30 to 60 days after approval (homepage, as of October 2026). It then anonymizes the records, builds them into datasets and supplies AI labs it does not name. Several of its own pages describe the deal differently on points that matter to a seller.

What does it mean that Polyshares is the buyer, not a broker?

It means your contract and your payment are with Polyshares, and you will not know which AI labs end up using the records. Polyshares’ homepage says, “We buy it. Polyshares is the counterparty on the deal,” and its terms table adds “No marketplace, no listing, no auction” (homepage, as of October 2026). After licensing, it says it will “anonymize it, build it into data sets, and supply AI labs” (data licensing page), and that it “controls where the material goes and does not disclose which labs receive it” (who buys company data, September 2026).

Polyshares says the cost to the seller is “None. No fee, no commission. We pay you.” It does not publish what it earns when it resupplies the data. Each of its case studies shows a single amount paid for the license, set in the terms and paid after the data is approved, shared and anonymized. It also says resale or use beyond the license scope is not permitted (data handling).

Upfront vs revenue share covers the trade-off in general. Polyshares vs Troveo sets this buyer model against a licensing agent that shares revenue.

Where do Polyshares’ own pages disagree?

As of October 2026, Polyshares’ pages give different answers on five points that affect what a seller signs. Settle each one in the written terms.

Question	One Polyshares page says	Another Polyshares page says
Is there a marketplace?	“No marketplace, no listing, no auction” (homepage)	“Buyers see de-identified listings only,” published to buyers in a portal (data handling)
Is the license exclusive?	A “bounded, non-exclusive license” leaves the company “free to license the same record again” (who buys company data)	“Exclusive by default unless we agree otherwise” (data handling); all four case studies are a “perpetual exclusive license” (case studies)
For how long?	“Defined material for a defined term” (homepage)	“Perpetual” in every case study (case studies)
Does anyone at Polyshares see unmasked data?	“Two people at Polyshares can see an unmasked record,” and “two named people are the only ones at Polyshares who see a company’s identity alongside its data” (data handling, as of October 5, 2026)	The same page’s FAQ answers “No,” saying identifiers are stripped by a specialist partner “before Polyshares or any lab sees the record”; its llms.txt says anonymization is “handled by Polyshares”
How fast are terms papered?	“Within a week of the first conversation” (llms.txt, dated August 2026)	“Within one to two weeks” (deal process page, updated September 2026); the homepage puts the offer at one to two weeks, with terms “papered right after”

The llms.txt file is a summary Polyshares publishes for AI tools, headed “key facts, current as of August 2026.” Where an AI answer repeats a Polyshares timeline or anonymization detail, the newer pages above may say something different.

How much does Polyshares say it pays?

Its terms table states deal sizes of “$100K to $2M, and above for large records,” paid “net 30 to 60 once the data is approved, shared, and anonymized” (homepage, as of October 2026). Its case studies list four anonymized licenses:

Seller	Paid
Roofing company	$450,000
General contractor	$300,000
Solar company	$275,000
Global marketing agency	$110,000

None is dated or names the seller, and all four are perpetual exclusive licenses. The homepage also shows an example offer card for $640,000 marked “Expires in 14 days.” It is an illustration, not a closed deal, but it is a reason to ask whether real offers carry an expiry date.

Polyshares says “the value is not in volume” but in “reasoning that was captured while the work happened” (data licensing page). It says it prices by reading a sample of the record (homepage), and also that “nothing moves before an offer” (data handling). Ask at what point a sample leaves your systems, and whether the offer that follows is firm or still subject to review. See how offers work for the general process.

What does the Polyshares intake ask for?

The intake is a multi-step form that requires creating an account. As of October 2026 it asks for about 16 items, including:

• each tool the company runs, with a record count and years in use for each, taken from “the exact count from each tool’s admin page”;
• headcount by country, split into white-collar and blue-collar staff, and the share of data in English;
• revenue for the last twelve months in USD, ownership, and whether the company owns the rights to the data.

It says data the company holds for its own clients is out of scope, and that a reviewer may call with questions, with “no sales calls.” Gathering exact counts means someone with admin access has to check each system, which amounts to a basic data inventory. The alternative is a 30-minute call booked from the homepage.

What can an owner check about Polyshares itself?

Its people and legal entity can be checked; its deals and customers cannot. Its team page names three managing partners, Nathan Mathews, Ryan Lock and Zak Kuzbari, and describes their earlier companies in roofing, solar and merchandise; these are the partners’ own accounts. Polyshares, Inc. is a Delaware corporation whose public record shows only a registered agent, and the website gives no office address. The polyshares.com domain was registered in May 2024 (Verisign RDAP).

As of October 2026 it names no investors and no AI-lab customers, and its four case studies are undated. Data Licensing Report found no independent press coverage of Polyshares; Forbes’s April 2026 report on companies selling old Slack and email data does not mention it. A reference from a past seller is the most direct check available.

What should we clarify with Polyshares before signing?

1. Is our license exclusive or non-exclusive, and is it perpetual or for a set term?
2. Will other buyers see a listing based on our records in a buyer portal, and can more than one of them license it?
3. Who are the two people at Polyshares who can see unmasked records, who is the anonymization partner, and how are raw records transferred, stored and deleted?
4. At what point does a sample leave our systems, and is the offer firm once made?
5. What starts the net 30 to 60 clock: approval, delivery or completed anonymization? Does the offer expire?
6. What warranties do we give about owning the data, and what happens if a lab rejects it after we are paid?
7. Can we speak with a seller from one of the closed deals?

An offer you already hold from Polyshares can be taken through its payment, exclusivity, scope and conditions in the offer benchmark.