Scale AI vs Nebius

By valuation, Scale AI is the larger company at $29B versus $25B — a 1.2x difference. Size can also be measured by team: Scale AI employs 1,000 people while Nebius has 1,000 employees.

Scale AI has raised more in total funding at $15.9B, compared to Nebius's $2B — a gap of $13.9B. Combined, the two companies have completed 6 known funding rounds.

It's a dead heat — both Scale AI and Nebius sit at 84/100 on the Awaira Score. That score factors in valuation, funding, stage, headcount, and category.

Scale AI was founded by Alexandr Wang in 2016. Nebius's founder information is not currently available in our database.

Scale AI: Scale AI is a data infrastructure company founded in 2016 that specializes in data labeling and annotation services for artificial intelligence model development. The company provides managed workforce solutions and software platforms that enable organizations to prepare high-quality training data at scale. Scale AI's core offerings include data labeling, model evaluation, data generation, and managed workforce services across computer vision, natural language processing, and other AI domains. The company serves enterprise customers across automotive, defense, technology, and other sectors requiring large-scale data annotation for machine learning applications. Notable use cases include autonomous vehicle development, where precise labeled data is critical for training perception systems. Scale AI operates a hybrid model combining software automation with human-in-the-loop annotation capabilities. With a Series F valuation of $13.8 billion and total funding of $1.6 billion, Scale AI represents one of the highest-valued data infrastructure companies in the AI stack. The company competes in the data labeling market alongside firms like Labelbox, Snorkel AI, and various in-house solutions deployed by large technology companies. Its growth trajectory reflects increasing enterprise demand for quality training data as AI model development accelerates. Scale AI's positioning emphasizes enterprise-grade reliability, security, and quality assurance in data preparation workflows. Scale AI has achieved unicorn valuation by solving the critical bottleneck of high-quality labeled data production at enterprise scale. Nebius: Nebius is a Dutch AI infrastructure company that provides full-stack AI cloud computing services, from GPU clusters to managed machine learning platforms. Originally spun out of Yandex, Nebius has established itself as a major AI infrastructure provider with strategic partnerships including a $2 billion investment from NVIDIA and a $27 billion infrastructure deal with Meta covering dedicated GPU capacity and compute resources over a five-year period. The company operates AI-optimized data centers and offers cloud services that span the entire AI stack — from bare-metal GPU access through high-level managed AI services. Nebius competes in the rapidly growing AI cloud market alongside CoreWeave, Lambda, and the major hyperscalers, differentiating through deep engineering expertise across hardware and software layers.

Scale AI got there first, launching in 2016 — that's 7 years of extra runway. Nebius didn't arrive until 2023. In AI, that kind of head start means more training data, deeper customer relationships, and a bigger talent moat.

Both Scale AI and Nebius report about 1,000 employees. Team size is a rough proxy for scale, but lean AI companies routinely punch above their headcount.

Yes — they're direct rivals. Both Scale AI and Nebius compete in AI Infrastructure, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.