Hard Fork AI The Rise of Datumo: Disrupting Scale AI’s Stronghold
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Aug 17, 2025 A new startup, Datumo, is emerging as a challenger to Scale AI, having raised $15.5 million. Their unique strategy emphasizes efficiency, transparency, and a crowdsourced app for data labeling. The discussion dives into potential impacts on AI model training and what this shift could mean for the industry. Exciting possibilities for expansion and innovation in the AI landscape are on the horizon!
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Labeling To Model Evaluation Pivot
- Daidumo expanded from annotation into model evaluation and safety benchmarking as customers requested output scoring and comparisons across models.
- This vertical move leverages their labeling roots to deliver enterprise-focused model monitoring and evaluation tools.
Crowdsourced Labeling Launched Growth
- Daidumo began as a data-labeling startup using a reward-based crowdsourcing app to pay people to label data in their spare time.
- The founders secured pre-contract sales and passed $1M revenue in year one, proving product-market fit.
Licensed Book Data Boosts Reasoning
- Daidumo licenses curated datasets, including cleaned book text, which they claim improves models' structured human reasoning.
- Owning licensed datasets differentiates them from pure service labelers and adds recurring product revenue potential.