Micro1, a three-year-old startup specializing in connecting AI labs with human experts for data labeling and model training, has secured a $35M Series A led by 01 Advisors, the venture capital firm co-founded by former Twitter executives Dick Costolo and Adam Bain. The funding values the company at $500M.
Founded by Ali Ansari, now 24, Micro1 has rapidly grown to $50M ARR in 2025, up from $7M at the start of the year, working with clients including Microsoft and Fortune 100 companies. The company differentiates itself by supplying high-quality domain experts — from software engineers to medical professionals — and recruiting them through its proprietary AI recruiter, Zara.
Amid shifting industry dynamics following Meta’s investment in Scale AI, Micro1 is positioning itself as a key provider of trusted, expert-driven data services. The new capital will fuel expansion into “AI environments,” virtual workspaces for training agents on simulated tasks, further strengthening its role in the evolving AI infrastructure market.
