Google DeepMind vs Scale AI: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Google DeepMind had ~$2B of annual revenue in FY2023. Scale AI had $870M (unaudited) of annual revenue in FY2024.
Latest financial snapshot
Google DeepMind
- Latest annual revenue
- ~$2B (FY2023)
- Net income
- Unavailable here
- Net margin
- —
- Revenue growth
- +22.8% a year, FY2020–FY2023
Scale AI
- Latest annual revenue
- $870M (unaudited) (FY2024)
- Net income
- Unavailable here
- Net margin
- —
- Revenue growth
- —
Financial summary
Google DeepMind
Alphabet does not report Google DeepMind separately. The best public data comes from DeepMind Technologies Limited's UK accounts, which show revenue, mostly R&D fees charged to other Alphabet companies, rising from ~$1.09 billion (£826 million) in 2020 to ~$1.8 billion (£1.365 billion) in 2021, dipping to ~$1.43 billion (£1.081 billion) in 2022 and reaching about $2.02 billion (£1.53 billion) in 2023, with pre-tax profit of ~$196 million (£148.4 million) that year. These numbers measure Alphabet's internal funding of the lab rather than the commercial value of Gemini, which Google earns through Search, subscriptions and Cloud. Google DeepMind operates as a crown jewel subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., heavily driving Google's multi-trillion dollar market capitalization.
Scale AI
Scale is private and does not publish audited results. Bloomberg reported about $870 million of revenue in 2024 and a target near $2 billion for 2025 before the Meta deal. After OpenAI and Google pulled back, that target looked out of reach, but CEO Jason Droege wrote in early 2026 that 2025 was Scale's biggest revenue year, with more than $1 billion in new business and nearly half of bookings in Q4. The company valued itself at more than $29 billion in the June 2025 Meta transaction, up from $13.8 billion in its May 2024 Series F. Net income has not been disclosed, though Scale says the data business is now profitable. Scale AI is an absolute powerhouse in the artificial intelligence infrastructure sector, providing massive data labeling and RLHF services with a private market valuation of approximately $13.8 billion.
Revenue and profit by year
Google DeepMind
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | ~$2B | — | — | +41.6% | Source |
| FY2022 | ~$1.4B | — | — | -20.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | ~$1.8B | — | — | +65.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | ~$1.1B | — | — | — | Source |
Scale AI
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 (unaudited) | $870M | — | — | — | Source |
| FY2023 | $335M | — | — | — | Source |
| FY2022 (unaudited) | $290M | — | — | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Google DeepMind
- R&D services to Alphabet companies
Not formally reported
DeepMind Technologies Limited's reported revenue comes mainly from research and development services billed to other Alphabet group companies.
- Gemini in Google products (booked by Google)
Not formally reported
Search ads supported by AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini app and Google One AI subscriptions, Workspace, and Gemini APIs on Google Cloud. Alphabet does not disclose how much of this is attributable to Google DeepMind.
Scale AI
- Data business
Not disclosed
Training data, RL environments, robotics data and evaluations for AI labs and large technology companies; profitable since the second half of 2025, per the company.
- Applications: enterprise
Not disclosed
Generative AI applications for companies such as Mayo Clinic, BP and Allianz.
- Applications: public sector
Not disclosed
AI programs for the U.S. Department of War and international governments including Qatar, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Business model and strategy
Google DeepMind
How it makes money
Google DeepMind does not sell products under its own name. It is a cost center inside Alphabet that builds the models Google monetizes: Gemini powers AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search (supporting ad revenue), the Gemini app and Google One AI subscriptions, Gemini for Workspace, and pay-per-token Gemini APIs on Google AI Studio and Vertex AI in Google Cloud.
Growth strategy
The lab's priority is staying at the frontier with Gemini, including Gemini 3 and the Gemini 4 generation Hassabis mentioned in August 2026, while pushing Flash models and Gemma open models to developers. Under Koray Kavukcuoglu it is more tightly tied to Google's product teams, with Hassabis focusing on AGI strategy and Isomorphic Labs' drug discovery work.
Competitive advantage
Google DeepMind's main edge is the full Google stack around it: in-house TPU chips, Google Cloud, and distribution through Search, Android, YouTube and Workspace. It also has a deep research bench and a record of scientific results, from AlphaGo to the Nobel-winning AlphaFold, that few rivals can match.
Scale AI
How it makes money
Scale AI earns money in two ways. Its data business charges AI labs and large technology companies for training data, reinforcement learning environments and model evaluations, produced by software pipelines plus a paid contributor network run through Outlier and Remotasks; the company says it has paid contributors more than $1 billion over ten years.
Growth strategy
Scale's 2026 plan, as described by its leadership, is to move technical capabilities from the data business into applications faster, invest in a unified AI-native platform for enterprise and government customers, and expand abroad. It opened or grew offices in New York, London, Washington, D.C., Doha, St.
Competitive advantage
Scale's advantages are scale, track record and government access. It has applied what it calls 15 billion human decisions to train leading models across 150 languages and locales, it runs SEAL benchmarks such as Humanity's Last Exam and SWE-Bench Pro that labs cite at launch, and it holds U.S.
Questions about Google DeepMind vs Scale AI
Which company has higher revenue — Google DeepMind or Scale AI, Inc.?
Google DeepMind had ~$2B (FY2023), while Scale AI, Inc. had $870.0M (unaudited) (FY2024). By latest annual revenue, Google DeepMind is the larger business, with Scale AI, Inc. showing a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
How does revenue per employee compare for Google DeepMind and Scale AI, Inc.?
Scale AI, Inc. generates $725k / employee in revenue per employee. A comparable figure for Google DeepMind requires matching employee and revenue data from the same reporting period.
How do Google DeepMind and Scale AI, Inc. make money?
Google DeepMind and Scale AI, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Google DeepMind: Google DeepMind does not sell products under its own name. Scale AI, Inc.: Scale AI earns money in two ways.
Is Google DeepMind bigger than Scale AI, Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Google DeepMind (~$2B (FY2023)) is the larger company compared to Scale AI, Inc. ($870.0M (unaudited) (FY2024)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Google DeepMind vs Scale AI overview