Buyer profile
Replay data licensing review: how its offers work, who runs it
Replay licenses de-identified operating records from businesses, licenses them onward to frontier AI and data labs, and typically pays upfront cash plus a perpetual revenue share; it is operated by Sunsets HQ Corp., the company behind the Sunset wind-down service.[1, 2, 3] as of
Replay
Licenses directly
- How they pay
- Typically upfront cash plus a perpetual revenue share
- Published range
- $10K–$1M+ by headcount
- Who they buy from
- Operating companies; Any industry; price tiers start at 20 employees
Last checked
| What they buy | Historical operating records include analytics, code and internal docs, decision threads and messages, financial and billing records, support history, product logs, CRM and sales conversations, and presentations.[1, 4] as of Its page for AI buyers names sources including Slack, Atlassian, GitHub, GitLab, Notion, Intercom, Asana, Linear, Zendesk, Salesforce and Google Docs and Sheets.[4] as of |
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| Who they buy from | Replay says it works with companies in every industry; what matters is whether there is a record of how the work was done.[1] as of Its valuation form accepts companies of 1–9 people and under two years old, though its published price tiers start at 20 employees.[5, 1] as of A Replay sales job posting describes approaching operating companies, including "healthy, ongoing companies with no urgent trigger."[6] as of Its home page names the industries Tech, B2C, E-commerce, Services, Legal, Hardware, CPG and Finance, and lists 'the dispatch logs' among the records it wants.[1] as of |
| Payment model | Replay says offers are typically an upfront cash payment plus a perpetual revenue share.[1, 7] as of Replay says historical data is paid for first, and new data the business produces "follows the same path, and continues to pay you."[1] as of Its website terms leave fees, licensing proceeds and payment schedules to a separate agreement for each engagement.[2] as of |
| Published ranges | Tiers by headcount: 20–50 employees $10K–$100K; 50–250 employees $100K–$1M; 250+ employees $1,000,000+.[1] as of |
| Process | Four steps: Value (review of industry, systems, data volume and how the team worked), Terms (an offer to license), Protect (secure export and de-identification) and Payout.[1] as of The valuation form says Replay gives an initial view of licensing potential without touching raw customer or employee data.[5] as of |
| Data handling | Replay says raw data comes to Replay only for de-identification and only the cleaned output is ever licensed.[8] as of Replay says data goes only to frontier AI and data labs, never to foreign adversaries or through brokers, and is deleted on request if the business does not continue.[1, 8] as of Replay says HIPAA lists eighteen categories to strip from medical records and that 'We cover all eighteen, and many more'; it says its methods 'cover 60+ categories, across every file type and application your business works in.'[1] as of |
| Geography | Operator Sunsets HQ Corp. is based in Brooklyn, New York; the valuation form asks what share of internal communications is in English.[2, 5] as of |
| How to apply | Businesses start with the 'Value my data' form, which asks for company name, work email, years operating, headcount and share of communications in English.[5] as of |
| Not publicly stated |
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Provider's own site: replay.ai
Is Replay legit?
| Founded | No founding date published; Crunchbase lists Brendan Mahony as Replay's founder and CEO from September 2025.[9] as of |
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| Leadership | No leadership named on its website (checked October 2026). Its About page's unnamed founder says they started Sunset, whose site names Brendan Mahony as founder and CEO.[7, 10, 9] as of |
| Headquarters | Sunsets HQ Corp., a Delaware corporation at 55 Washington Street, Brooklyn, New York, per Replay's terms.[2] as of |
| Backing | Replay's job postings name Floodgate, Afore, Ludlow and Hustle Fund among its investors.[11] as of TechCrunch reported in February 2024 that Sunset raised a $1.45 million seed round, mainly from angels including Hustle Fund's Eric Bahn.[12] as of |
| Public track record | Forbes reported in April 2026 that Sunset, Replay's operator, buys defunct companies' data at prices similar to SimpleClosure's.[13] as of TechCrunch and PitchBook covered Sunset's startup wind-down business in February 2024.[12, 14] as of |
Replay says its offers are typically structured as an upfront cash payment plus a perpetual revenue share, and it is operated by Sunsets HQ Corp., the company behind the Sunset startup wind-down service, according to the terms on Replay’s and Sunset’s websites, as of October 2026. Replay licenses de-identified records from businesses and licenses them onward to AI labs.
Who is behind Replay?
Replay’s terms of service, updated September 24, 2026, name Sunsets HQ Corp., a Delaware corporation in Brooklyn, New York, as the operator. Sunset’s terms name the same corporation at the same address, and Replay’s site footer reads “Sunsets HQ Corp.” Replay’s About page carries a statement from its founder and CEO, who is not named on the page: “I started one called Sunset, which has helped thousands of founders wind down their companies.” Sunset’s About page names Brendan Mahony as Sunset’s founder and CEO, and Crunchbase lists him as Replay’s founder and CEO from September 2025. A Replay job posting describes the history the same way: “We started by supporting startups through shutting down, but we’ve since expanded.”
How do Replay’s and Sunset’s data offers differ?
One company runs two data channels on different terms. Sunset’s April 2026 blog post, written for founders winding down, says Sunset will “purchase the dataset directly” and “assume responsibility for licensing it to downstream partners”; it mentions no revenue share. Forbes reported in April 2026 that Sunset buys defunct companies’ data at prices similar to SimpleClosure’s, which typically pays $10,000 to $100,000 per company. Replay describes upfront cash plus a perpetual revenue share, and its sales job posting asks for someone comfortable approaching “healthy, ongoing companies with no urgent trigger.”
An owner whose company is closing may hear about either offer, so confirm in writing which structure is on the table and which brand’s agreement it sits under before comparing it with a one-time purchase from another provider.
How does Replay’s upfront payment plus revenue share work?
Replay describes four steps: Value, Terms, Protect and Payout. At the Terms step it makes an offer to license the data, “typically structured as an upfront cash payment plus a perpetual revenue share” (home page). Its About page puts it as “You’re paid up front, plus a revenue share of every license.” The Payout step adds an ongoing element: “You’re paid for your historical data first. New data you produce follows the same path, and continues to pay you.”
The revenue share depends on how often Replay licenses the data onward. Its page for AI buyers says Replay licenses data directly from businesses and holds “the full rights and titles to license it onward.” Replay does not publish when the upfront payment is made, the revenue-share percentage, how often the share is paid, or what “perpetual” covers (checked October 2026). Its terms leave “fees, licensing proceeds, payment schedules, and applicable taxes” to a separate agreement for each engagement. That leaves two numbers to weigh in a Replay offer, the cash and the share; upfront payment versus revenue share explains how each allocates timing and risk.
What do Replay’s headcount price tiers mean?
Replay’s home page publishes three tiers: $10K–$100K for 20–50 employees, $100K–$1M for 50–250 employees, and $1,000,000+ for 250 or more (home page). It adds: “Headcount is a proxy. How long you’ve been operating, what industry you’re in, which apps you run on and how much data sits in each all factor into the final price.”
The page does not say whether a tier is the upfront payment alone or includes expected revenue share (checked October 2026). That decides how a Replay figure compares with a one-time payment elsewhere. Replay’s valuation form accepts companies with 1 to 9 people and under two years of operation, below the smallest published tier.
Is a Replay deal a license or a sale?
Replay’s pages use both words. Its data-privacy page says: “This is a license, not a sale. Your data, your source code, your trademarks and your IP all remain yours.” Its home page says: “Your data is only sold to frontier AI and data labs,” and is “never sold to foreign adversaries or resold through brokers.” The agreement decides which applies. Replay does not publish exclusivity terms, license duration or the names of the labs it licenses to (checked October 2026).
On handling, Replay says raw data comes to Replay only for de-identification and “only the cleaned output is ever licensed,” and that a business that does not continue can have its data deleted on request (data-privacy page). Its valuation form says the first assessment happens “without ever touching raw customer or employee data.” The data-privacy page also says Replay will “cap your exposure to just the fees paid”; the binding terms are in the agreement.
Why did Replay contact my company?
Replay’s job postings, open as of October 2026, describe an outbound sales operation. Its business development posting describes the role as “the first point of contact for operating companies exploring a new revenue stream” and lists the task “Generate a high volume of opportunities through personalized outreach.” A GTM engineer posting describes building list-building pipelines and “multi-channel outbound infrastructure and personalization (email, LinkedIn, phone).” An unsolicited email, LinkedIn message or call from Replay matches that published plan.
What should an owner ask Replay before accepting an offer?
Replay’s public pages leave these open (checked October 2026):
- When does the upfront payment arrive, and does any of it depend on de-identification or buyer review?
- What is the revenue-share percentage, how is it reported and paid, and what does “perpetual” mean if we stop supplying new data?
- Does the quoted figure include projected revenue share?
- Does ongoing supply need a live connection to our systems?
- Is the license exclusive, which labs receive the data, and for what uses?
- Where is raw data held during de-identification, and when is it deleted after a deal closes?
- Do any fees come out of the proceeds? Replay’s terms mention fees without saying who pays them.
Which lists include Replay?
Sources
- Replay program page, Replay. Accessed .
- Replay - Terms of Service, Replay. Published . Accessed .
- Sunset Terms of Service (last updated 2026-03-18), Sunset. Published . Accessed .
- Replay - AI buyers, Replay. Accessed .
- Replay - Value my data, Replay. Accessed .
- Replay - Business Development Representative, Data Partnerships (job posting), Replay. Accessed .
- Replay - About, Replay. Accessed .
- Replay - Data privacy, Replay. Accessed .
- Brendan Mahony - Crunchbase Person Profile, Crunchbase. Accessed .
- About Sunset, Sunset. Accessed .
- Replay - Senior Account Executive, Data Partnerships (job posting), Replay. Accessed .
- Why VCs are investing in startups that help other startups shut down (TechCrunch), TechCrunch. Published . Accessed .
- AI's New Training Data: Your Old Work Slacks And Emails (Forbes), Forbes. Published . Accessed .
- The business of winding down startups is booming - PitchBook, pitchbook.com. Published . Accessed .
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