Encord
Encord is an AI-native data infrastructure platform that helps enterprise and Physical AI teams curate, annotate, and manage multimodal training data across video, image, audio, LiDAR, 3D, and text for autonomous vehicles, robotics, healthcare, and generative AI applications.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Encord does
Encord is an AI-native data infrastructure platform that helps enterprise and Physical AI teams curate, manage, annotate, and evaluate the multimodal data needed to train and run AI systems. The platform natively supports video, image, audio, text, LiDAR, 3D point clouds, geospatial, and medical imaging (DICOM, NIfTI) modalities in a unified workflow, addressing use cases including autonomous vehicles, robotics, drones, healthcare imaging, industrial automation, and generative AI. Core product modules include Encord Annotate (multimodal annotation with AI-assisted labeling and label lineage), Encord Index (embedding-based data curation and automated quality assessment), Post-Training Alignment (RLHF, rubric-based evaluation, pairwise comparison), and Data Agents (workflow automation). The platform is complemented by Merlin, an agentic intelligence layer accessible via the Model Context Protocol in Claude, Codex, and other agentic coding platforms, and by open-source data products including the E-MM1 multimodal dataset (1 billion data pairs, 100 million data groups) and the EBIND multimodal embedding model. The proprietary EBind training methodology is claimed to deliver 17x training efficiency on a single GPU.
Encord operates a SaaS subscription business model with enterprise field sales motion, quote-based annual pricing, and no publicly disclosed pricing tiers. Go-to-market is direct enterprise sales targeting large AI teams, with the website featuring 'Book a demo' CTAs and SDK-first programmatic access via Python and MCP. The company sells to over 300 AI teams globally including Woven by Toyota, Zipline, AXA, Skydio, UiPath, Synthesia, Philips, Cedars-Sinai, Northwell Health, Agility Robotics, Forterra, and others across automotive, healthcare, insurance, robotics, and industrial sectors. Professional services include Annotation Services (vetted domain experts), Collection Services (in-field and teleoperation data collection), and Physical AI Data Services (end-to-end data infrastructure). The company holds SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, and GDPR certifications, operates from San Francisco and London under Cord Technologies, and is privately held after raising $110M total across seed, Series A, Series B, and Series C rounds through February 2026.
Encord firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Encord
- Legal name
- Cord Technologies, Inc.
- Website
- https://encord.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Encord is an AI-native data infrastructure platform that helps enterprise and Physical AI teams curate, annotate, and manage multimodal training data across video, image, audio, LiDAR, 3D, and text for autonomous vehicles, robotics, healthcare, and generative AI applications.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Encord industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Data Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Data Labeling & Annotation Services (HDAAALAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Healthcare Data Integration, ETL/ELT & Pipeline Orchestration (HLACAIAC), Data Engineering, Integration & ETL/ELT Services (BPAEAHAB)
Keywords
Where Encord is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Encord business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- SaaS Platform Subscription: Encord operates as an AI data infrastructure SaaS platform providing subscription-based access to its annotation, curation, and evaluation tools. The platform consolidates data management, curation, annotation, and model evaluation workflows into a unified solution.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise platform with full feature access |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Encord product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Encord provides an AI-native multimodal data infrastructure platform that enables enterprise and physical AI teams to collect, curate, annotate, and evaluate training data across video, image, audio, LiDAR, text, and 3D point cloud modalities. The platform unifies data management, labeling, curation, model alignment, and post-training evaluation, complemented by managed annotation and data collection services.
Product overview
Encord is an AI-native data infrastructure platform offering a unified platform-plus-modules architecture for managing the complete AI data lifecycle. The core platform consists of Encord Annotate (for annotation and labeling), Encord Index (for data curation and quality assessment), Post-Training Alignment (for RLHF and model evaluation), and Data Agents (for workflow automation). These are complemented by Merlin, the agentic intelligence layer enabling conversational data management via MCP. The platform supports five modalities: video, image, audio, text, and 3D point clouds. Data products include the E-MM1 multimodal dataset and EBIND embedding model. Professional services include Annotation Services, Collection Services, and Physical AI Data Services. The platform serves over 300 AI teams globally including Woven by Toyota, Zipline, UiPath, Synthesia, and major robotics companies.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Merlin: Agentic intelligence layer for Encord that works across the full data lifecycle, launched June 2026 via MCP integration.
- E-MM1 Dataset
- EBIND
Quantifiable outcome
- UiPath achieved near 99% model accuracy with Encord, with 10x dataset growth and 4x reduction in error rate
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Encord
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Encord technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability10 records
Feature7 records
Encord partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- NVIDIAcoreNVIDIA Cosmos Reason 2 and Cosmos Embed models are integrated directly into the Encord platform. Cosmos Reason automates pre-labels on physical AI video; Cosmos Embed enables behavior search by natural language queries. Encord runs these models natively on its own infrastructure.
- Weights & BiasescoreCo-hosted 'Brains, Bodies & Benchmarks: Physical AI Panel' bringing together experts from Agility Robotics, Dyna Robotics, 1X, Physical Intelligence, and NVIDIA to discuss cutting edge of Physical AI.
- AnyscalecoreCo-hosted Physical AI panel discussion alongside Weights & Biases, bringing together robotics industry leaders for knowledge sharing and community building.
- MCP (Model Context Protocol) EcosystemcoreMerlin agentic intelligence layer is natively embedded in MCP-compatible platforms including Claude (Anthropic), Codex (OpenAI), and other agentic coding platforms. Enables conversational AI data management across the ecosystem.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Encord competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Scale AI: Scale AI is the largest data annotation and labeling platform, serving many of the same autonomous vehicle, robotics, and enterprise AI customers as Encord. Both target multimodal AI data infrastructure with managed services, though Scale operates at significantly larger scale and capital base.
- Labelbox: Labelbox provides a data-centric AI platform for annotation, curation, and model evaluation across image, video, text, and geospatial data. It is a direct competitor in enterprise AI data infrastructure, serving similar ML teams with comparable annotation and quality assessment capabilities.
- Snorkel AI: Snorkel AI focuses on programmatic data labeling and weak supervision for enterprise AI, with a particular emphasis on healthcare and regulated industries. It competes with Encord in the data-centric AI tooling market and shares similar enterprise customer profiles.
- Roboflow: Roboflow provides computer vision annotation and model training infrastructure with strong adoption among developers and startups. While its product breadth is narrower than Encord's (focused on vision rather than full multimodal), it competes for the same vision-AI customer base with a more product-led growth motion.
- V7 Labs: V7 Labs offers an AI data engine for image and video annotation, with a focus on document and complex visual data. It overlaps with Encord Annotate in serving computer vision and document AI teams in regulated industries.
- SuperAnnotate: SuperAnnotate provides AI annotation tooling and managed services for image, video, text, and sensor fusion, with strong positioning in autonomous systems. It is a direct competitor in the multimodal annotation space targeting autonomous vehicles and robotics customers.
- Dataloop: Dataloop offers a data-centric AI platform for annotation, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop workflows across image, video, and sensor data. It targets similar enterprise AI teams with comparable multimodal annotation capabilities and marketplace services.
Emerging players
- Kognic: Kognic specializes in annotation and dataset curation for autonomous driving perception, with strong European OEM and Tier-1 supplier relationships. It overlaps with Encord's autonomous vehicle segment but has a narrower scope focused on automotive sensor fusion.
- Voxel51: Voxel51, the company behind the open-source FiftyOne dataset and model visualization tool, provides tooling for computer vision dataset curation and quality assessment. It overlaps with Encord Index in serving ML engineers who need to understand and curate visual datasets at scale.
- Datasaur: Datasaur provides an NLP-focused data labeling platform with LLM-assisted annotation workflows. While narrower in modality (text-focused) than Encord, it serves similar enterprise AI teams building production language models and competes in the broader data labeling tooling market.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Encord social profiles
Digital presenceEncord compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Encord financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Encord leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Encord funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Encord M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Encord
What does Encord do?
Encord provides an AI-native multimodal data infrastructure platform that enables enterprise and physical AI teams to collect, curate, annotate, and evaluate training data across video, image, audio, LiDAR, text, and 3D point cloud modalities. The platform unifies data management, labeling, curation, model alignment, and post-training evaluation, complemented by managed annotation and data collection services.
Is Encord a public or private company?
Encord is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Encord founded?
Encord was founded in 2021. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Encord based?
Encord is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Encord make money?
One revenue line is on record: saaS Platform Subscription.
Who are Encord's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Scale AI, Labelbox, Snorkel AI, Roboflow, V7 Labs, SuperAnnotate and Dataloop. Emerging players are Kognic, Voxel51 and Datasaur.
Does Encord have an API?
Yes. Encord offers an SDK for developers to interact with the platform programmatically. The SDK allows users to register cloud data, import labels, export labels, and automate workflows. Authentication is handled via Access Keys (SDK Access Keys). The platform supports programmatic access for data management, annotation workflows, and model evaluation tasks. Developer documentation is at docs.encord.com.
What industry is Encord in?
Encord's product category is AI Data Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAALAB, Data Labeling & Annotation Services, with a secondary code of HLACAIAC, Healthcare Data Integration, ETL/ELT & Pipeline Orchestration. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.