AI data labeling startup Handshake has acquired Cleanlab, a company specializing in data quality auditing, the companies confirmed to TechCrunch. The acquisition marks a strategic move to bolster Handshake’s research capabilities, primarily through an acqui-hire of nine key Cleanlab employees, including its co-founders. Handshake, founded in 2013 as a platform connecting employers with college graduates, launched its human data labeling business about a year ago to support foundational AI model development. Cleanlab, established in 2021, builds software that automatically detects and corrects errors in human-labeled data, reducing reliance on manual review and improving data quality for AI training. The acquisition is centered on talent, with the Cleanlab team bringing deep expertise in algorithmic data auditing. The co-founders—Curtis Northcutt, Jonas Mueller, and Anish Athalye—each hold PhDs in computer science from MIT and have been instrumental in advancing automated data validation techniques. Their work focuses on identifying flawed or inconsistent labels at scale, a critical challenge in building reliable AI models. Sahil Bhaiwala, Handshake’s chief strategy and innovation officer, said the integration of Cleanlab’s research team will strengthen Handshake’s ability to assess model weaknesses and optimize the data it produces. “We have an in-house research team that thinks deeply about what data we should be generating and how high-quality it needs to be,” Bhaiwala explained. “The Cleanlab team has been solving this problem for years.” Northcutt, Cleanlab’s former CEO and a pioneer in automated data auditing, revealed that the company had received acquisition interest from several AI data labeling firms, including Mercor, Surge, and Scale AI. However, Cleanlab chose Handshake because of its unique position in the ecosystem. “If you’re going to pick one, you should probably pick the source, not the middleman,” Northcutt said, noting that many of these competitors rely on Handshake’s platform to recruit specialized human experts—such as doctors, lawyers, and scientists—for their own labeling projects. Cleanlab had raised $30 million from investors including Menlo Ventures, TQ Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Databricks Ventures. At its peak, the company employed over 30 people. Handshake, last valued at $3.3 billion in 2022, is projected to reach a $300 million annualized revenue run rate by the end of 2025 and is on track to achieve “high hundreds of millions” in ARR this year. The company has supplied data to eight of the top AI labs, including OpenAI, solidifying its role as a key player in the AI supply chain.