ByAnna Tong,
Forbes Staff.
If you’re watching for indicators of AI market froth, the meteoric rise of micro1 is about as clear as it gets. At the start of the year, it was an AI-powered recruitment service clearing roughly $7 million annually. Now, eight months after a pivot into data annotation for AI training, it has crossed $100 million in annualized revenue and fielded investment offers at a $2.5 billion valuation (just several months ago, it closed a funding round valuing the company at $500 million).
It’s been a wild ride for the company’s 24 year-old CEO Ali Ansari, who is now on the cusp of becoming one of the world’s youngest billionaires. Should micro1 lock in or exceed the $2.5 billion valuation currently being batted around by investors, Ansari’s stake in the company — approximately 42% — would be worth over $1 billion, according to Forbes’ estimates.
Ansari first became intrigued by AI training when a large data labeling firm came to them seeking micro1’s help with recruitment.
