Wirestock raises $23M to provide multimodal information to AI labs

In the last few years, creative markets and platforms have realized that they are sitting on a gold mine of data, and can use the data to create AI models or turn it into a source of income by licensing it to other AI laboratories.

Wirestock imageswhich previously helped artists distribute and sell their work on stock photography services like Shutterstock, has taken the latter approach.

The company chose to become an information provider in 2023 and now provides images, videos, design tools, games and 3D to AI labs. Wirestock said its platform has signed up more than 700,000 artists and designers who complete a variety of data-gathering tasks, similar to freelancers on platforms like Fiverr.

Mikayel Khachatryan, the founder and CEO of the company, said that Wirestock was transparent in its changes and allowed experts to get out of its business of providing information (in 2022, the platform will end. 100,000 artists on his platform). Khachatryan did not say how many people turned into AI data providers, saying only that “many” did.

“At first, most of what we did was just selling what we had on the shelf, like our existing library. But then it turned into a lot of requests for content and data, and that created new opportunities for creators, and the platform just took off,” he said.

The founders said Thursday they raised $23 million in Series A funding to build a new data-delivery business. The round was led by Nava Ventures and saw participation from SBVP (founded by Sheryl Sandberg), Formula VC, and I2BF Ventures.

Khachatryan says that Wirestock currently offers a wide range of information for six of its founding partners, but he did not name them. He said the company currently has $40 million in funding and has so far given $15 million to backers.

As part of this change, the founders had to reorganize some of its categories to describe and document information in detail to make it useful for AI labs. It also had to create sales and business teams to handle the rise of hyperscalers and find ways to get more production in areas like 3D modeling.

Wirestock currently uses email marketing and referral programs to bring in new affiliates. Photographers, videographers, and photographers can apply to submit information on his website, but they must complete an unpaid job as a quality check before being accepted. The company said it uses a combination of AI and human feedback to evaluate all services on the platform.

The need for data-driven services has skyrocketed as AI labs race to keep improving their models. Companies like Surge, Scale AI, and Mercor have made tens of billions of dollars in business seeming to be just around the corner looking for different types of datasets, as well as a list of new startups like. Micro1, Human Archivesand Human Native AI they’re working with top AI developers, too.

Wirestock wants to focus on providing quality data that supports user experiences, such as creating images and videos. The company is also exploring other options such as audio and music.

Freddie Martignetti, founder of Nava Ventures, said his fund was looking for startups that were new to data acquisition and processing even before learning about Wirestock.

“I think that Wirestock has a deep understanding of what basic models and hyperscalers need in terms of multimodal data to start creating more human-like systems. The cornerstone of our theory was that multimodal data will be very important, not just to create images or videos, but for models to complete real tasks,” Martignetti told TechCrunch.

Wirestock currently employs 60 people and will use the new funding to hire research, engineering, and marketing staff. It is also developing an enterprise software for AI labs to collaborate on datasets.

A round of funding brings in all the initial funding that has been raised $26 million.