The nine-year-old Scale AI counts Microsoft, OpenAI and the US government among its clients.
Meta is investing $14.3bn into artificial intelligence start-up Scale AI, in a deal aimed at improving its capabilities in the tech.
Earlier this week, sources told CNBC that the deal came as CEO Mark Zuckerberg was increasingly “frustrated” at his own company’s standing in AI.
As part of the deal, Scale’s founder and CEO, the 28-year-old Alexandr Wang, will be leaving his start-up to join Meta, taking up a prominent role to advance the company’s AI efforts.
According to reports, Wang is set to have a leadership role in a new division at the company called the Superintelligence lab. He will, however, continue as part of Scale’s board of directors.
The investment values Scale at more than $29bn. Sources told Reuters that Meta will take a 49pc stake in the company. The deal is Meta’s second-largest, following the more than $20bn acquisition of WhatsApp back in 2014.
Wang founded Scale AI in 2016 at the age of 19 after a brief stint at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from where he dropped out. After quitting university, he joined start-up accelerator Y Combinator to launch his company.
Scale AI provides specialised data to train AI and evaluates models and applications. Its wide-ranging clients include AI leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Cohere, as well as several sectors of the US government.
“Meta has finalised our strategic partnership and investment in Scale AI,” a Meta spokesperson told news outlets.
“As part of this, we will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts.”
Commenting on the deal, Wang said: “Meta’s investment recognises Scale’s accomplishments to date.
“AI is one of the most revolutionary technologies of our time, with unlimited possibility and far-reaching influence on how people, businesses and governments succeed,” he said.
Scale has appointed chief strategy officer Jason Droege to serve as the company’s interim CEO. Droege joined Scale in September 2024 and has more than 20 years of experience working in companies including Uber Eats and Axon.
“Meta’s new investment and our broadened commercial agreement is a testament to the incredible work and dedication of the entire Scale team, and the tremendous upside that lies ahead for Scale,” said Droege.
Earlier this year, Meta announced that it will be releasing its AI chatbot in Europe. The company had paused its launch in the region for nearly two years following pushback from the Irish Data Protection Commission over training AI models on European data.
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