Protege, a New York-based AI data platform, has raised $30 million in a Series A extension funding round, bringing its total funding to $65 million.
Investors
The extension round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with returning investors including Footwork, CRV, Bloomberg Beta, Flex Capital, and Shaper Capital.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs shaping the future through technology. Founded in 2009, the firm manages multiple funds across stages, sectors, and geographies, with over $46 billion in committed capital. a16z invests in seed- to growth-stage companies across AI, bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, gaming, infrastructure, and companies building toward American dynamism.
Protege Use of Funds
The company will use the funds to accelerate product development, expand Protege’s data network across domains and formats, strengthen partnerships with leading institutions, and scale team and infrastructure for AI-ready, rights-protected data access.
About Protege
Founded in 2024 by Bobby Samuels and Travis May, Protege offers an AI data platform that connects proprietary data holders with AI developers. Its platform allows AI companies to access curated, real-world datasets from trusted sources, including private and proprietary data spanning healthcare, media, audio, motion capture, and more. Protege aggregates and licenses this data, optimizes datasets for AI use, and provides revenue-sharing payouts to data providers. Serving AI companies and institutions worldwide, the platform supports both training and evaluation workflows for next-generation AI systems.
Funding Details
Company: Protege
Raised: $30.0M
Round: Series A Extension
Funding Date: January 2026
Lead Investor: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Additional Investors: Footwork, CRV, Bloomberg Beta, Flex Capital, Shaper Capital
Company Website: https://www.withprotege.ai/
Software Category: AI Data Platform / Data-as-a-Service
Source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260108257753/en/