(Reuters) – META Platform (META) has agreed to acquire a 49% stake in AI startup scale AI for $14.8 billion.
Founded in 2016, Scale AI (SCAI.PVT) provides a vast amount of labeled or curated training data, important for developing sophisticated tools such as OpenAI ChatGPT.
The transaction, which has not yet been finalized, appears to be beneficial to AI investors, including Accel, Index Ventures, Founders Fund, Greenoaks Capital, and its current and former employees.
Meta, Scale AI and startup investors did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
As part of the deal, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang has achieved the highest position within Meta, leading the new “Superintelligence” lab, according to the report.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is actively recruiting top AI researchers to boost the company’s AI efforts, the report said.
The company is battling the perception that the first set of the large language models of the Llama 4 released in April may have fallen behind in the AI race after performance expectations did not reach.
Meta delayed the release of its flagship “Behemoth” AI model due to concerns about its capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
The company also faces anti-trust concerns related to the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp.
According to information reports, the structure of potential transactions with scale AI can be designed to avoid more regulatory scrutiny.
Scale AI was valued at $13.8 billion in funding rounds last spring. It generated approximately $870 million in revenue in 2024, and is looking for more than $2 billion this year, the report said.
The company counts Microsoft, Meta and Cisco Systems among its customers, as well as AI companies Openai and Co-Heal.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh of Bengaluru, Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
