Meta Platforms has reportedly agreed to purchase a 49% stake in Scale AI, a US-based AI startup, for $14.8bn.
The deal was reported first by The Information, which cited sources familiar with the matter.
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The transaction is expected to benefit Scale AI’s investors, including Index Ventures, Founders Fund, Accel, and Greenoaks, as well as its current and former employees.
This deal will see Scale AI’s CEO Alexandr Wang take a senior role at Meta, and lead a new “superintelligence” laboratory, reported The Washington Post.
The move aligns with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to recruit top AI researchers to strengthen the company’s position in the competitive AI landscape, reported Reuters.
Established in 2016, Scale AI specialises in providing labelled and curated training data essential for developing advanced AI tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
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By GlobalDataIn a funding round held in spring 2024, Scale AI carried a valuation of $13.8bn.
The company posted approximately $870m in revenue in 2024 and anticipates exceeding $2bn in 2025.
It had over $900m in cash reserves at the end of last year, according to The Information report.
Meta’s Llama 4 large language models, released in April, reportedly did not perform as well as expected.
The company also delayed the launch of its flagship “Behemoth” AI model over concerns regarding its capabilities, according to The Wall Street Journal report of May 2025.
Additionally, Meta is navigating antitrust scrutiny related to its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
The potential deal could be structured in a way to minimise further regulatory challenges.
Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta Platforms is working to allow brands to fully automate the creation and targeting of advertisements using AI by the end of 2026.
