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Spare5 has raised $13.3M across 2 funding rounds.
Key people at Spare5.
Spare5 was founded in 2014 by Matt Shobe (Co-Founder & CXO).
Spare5 has raised $13.3M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Spare5 offers an intelligent crowdsourcing platform delivering human insights from unstructured data, critical for machine learning and AI development. It connects businesses with a global community performing micro-tasks, such as identifying and labeling images. This efficiently transforms raw data into high-quality datasets, enabling scalable data annotation for algorithmic advancements.
The company was founded in 2014 by Matt Bencke, Daryn Nakhuda, and Caleb Madrone, emerging as the first spinout from Madrona Venture Labs. Their insight focused on monetizing individuals' spare moments, allowing completion of small tasks on smartphones. This established a novel pathway for efficient, distributed data generation.
Spare5 primarily serves enterprises needing reliable, human-annotated datasets to train and validate their AI models. The platform provides a flexible solution for data preparation, ensuring accuracy and consistency for advanced analytics. Its vision empowers technology by furnishing precise, human-powered data, accelerating innovation in artificial intelligence.
Key people at Spare5.
Spare5 has raised $13.3M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $10.0M Series A in August 2015.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 25, 2015 | $10M Series A | Foundry Group, Madrona Venture Group, JON Sakoda | — | Announced |
| Dec 8, 2014 | $3.3M Seed | — | Oren Etzioni, Brad Feld, Greg Gottesman, NEW Enterprise Associates | Announced |
Spare5 was founded in 2014 by Matt Shobe (Co-Founder & CXO).
Spare5 has raised $13.3M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Spare5's investors include Foundry Group, Madrona Venture Group, Jon Sakoda, Oren Etzioni, Brad Feld, Greg Gottesman, New Enterprise Associates.
Spare5 is a microtask crowdsourcing platform that connects a global community of workers with businesses needing human insights to process unstructured data, such as images, video, text, and audio, for training AI models in computer vision, natural language processing, and machine learning.[1][2][3] It serves enterprises like Avvo, Expedia, Getty Images, GoPro, and Sentient Technologies by providing scalable, quality-filtered data through custom tasks, enabling AI improvements, better search experiences, and data enrichment via APIs and SDKs.[2][3] The platform solves the challenge of handling rapidly growing unstructured data—projected to reach 93% of all data by 2022—by combining human expertise with machine learning for accuracy, making it faster and more reliable than in-house methods.[2][3]
Spare5 operates on a subscription model, matching tasks to specialists based on skills and using a Reputation Engine for quality control, with workers earning via PayPal for simple, flexible gigs like image labeling or transcription—no advanced skills required.[1][3] Early growth included a pivot to enterprise focus, but activity appears limited post-2016, positioning it as a side hustle for workers rather than a high-earning opportunity.[1]
Spare5 was founded in 2014 by Matt Bencke, who serves as CEO, with a mission to "tap the world's potential brainpower" by crowdsourcing specialized human insights for complex data problems that AI couldn't yet handle alone.[2][3][6] Bencke's vision emerged from recognizing untapped expertise in everyday people—building a community of tens of thousands for game-like microtasks in spare time, starting with general availability of its Intelligent Crowdsourcing Platform in April 2016.[2][3][6]
A pivotal moment came in 2016 when Spare5 relaunched as Mighty AI, raising $14 million from Intel Capital and Accenture Ventures, securing those firms as customers to promote and integrate its training data services.[6] Mighty AI emphasized linking human cognition to AI learning loops, but it was later acquired by Uber, after which Spare5's microtask site persisted in a consumer-facing form while enterprise operations evolved.[1][6]
Spare5 rode the early wave of the AI data labeling boom, addressing the explosion of unstructured data (growing 62% annually per IDG) that powers machine learning but requires human annotation for accuracy.[2][3] Its timing was ideal in 2014-2016, as AI adoption surged but quality training data remained a bottleneck—enabling companies to unlock insights from images, video, and text without diverting core teams.[2][6]
Market forces like AI democratization favored Spare5, bridging the gap between raw data and trainable models, influencing the ecosystem by accelerating computer vision and NLP development for sectors like travel, media, and tech.[2][3][6] Post-acquisition by Uber via Mighty AI, it contributed to autonomous driving and broader AI tooling, though consumer operations highlight ongoing demand for accessible human-in-the-loop solutions amid persistent data challenges.[1]
Spare5's legacy as an AI data pioneer positions any revival or successor to capitalize on exploding demand for high-quality synthetic and labeled datasets in generative AI and multimodal models. Trends like agentic AI and real-time data processing will amplify needs for scalable human oversight, potentially driving growth if the platform modernizes beyond 2016 roots. Its influence may evolve through acquisitions or open-source analogs, reinforcing human-AI symbiosis—echoing Bencke's vision of unleashing "heroic impact" from global brainpower.[6]
