How startups can unlock the datasets they need, even with limited budgets

Early in 2025, Nascent Studio started working with a company whose founder was pessimistic about their chances of acquiring vital model training data.  They had spent months trying to access very specific patient datasets.

Problems like these are a common experience for AI companies, especially those using sensitive data in their models.  We at Nascent Studio, believe that the key to solving them is not just more money, but understanding the provider’s perspective. 

Many AI applications in science are so novel, that the data needed may never previously have been used or requested.  So, often when providers receive these requests:

• It’s the first time such data have been requested, and there is no process to deal with them
• If a process does exist, it requires multiple levels of approval across many functions
• If the request is approved, there are still questions on delivery, pricing, and rights to answer

Given all these potential steps, it’s no surprise that many requests are unsuccessful.  But if startups help providers answer these questions, it goes a long way to speeding up data access even without significant additional funding.

This is why Nascent Studio’s partnerships with data providers are vital.  Our expertise helps data providers eliminate these delivery, pricing and approval hurdles, even for the most complex requests.

As for the company that needed patient data? In weeks Nascent Studio was able to find 2 specialist dataset providers that are able support their model training.  We look forward to sharing more detail on their pilot results in the coming months.