Cloudflare announced on January 20, 2026 that it has acquired Human Native, a UK-based startup founded in 2024 and backed by LocalGlobe and Mercuri, to integrate AI data marketplace functionality into its connectivity cloud. Human Native’s platform facilitates transactions between more than 2,000 content creators and AI developers, enabling transparent pricing and licensing of text, image and multimedia datasets. While Cloudflare did not disclose the transaction amount, CEO Matthew Prince highlighted that the deal will accelerate the company’s development of a system in which AI teams pay creators directly for model-training data.

The acquisition bolsters Cloudflare’s strategy to expand beyond security and content delivery into the AI-driven Internet economy. By embedding Human Native’s tools, Cloudflare expects to onboard at least 500 AI customers in the first year, offering features to index, price and monetize existing website content. Prince emphasized that creators will gain granular control over which ‘bots’ can access their data and obtain fair compensation—an initiative projected to generate incremental revenues representing up to 5% of Cloudflare’s subscription bookings by late 2027.

Following the announcement, industry participants noted that Cloudflare’s move addresses growing concerns over data quality and intellectual property in generative AI. LocalGlobe partner Ziv Reichert estimated that the global market for AI-sourced training data could exceed $3 billion by 2028, underscoring the opportunity for Cloudflare’s platform. Mercuri’s Alan Hudson praised the alignment of Human Native’s mission with Cloudflare’s vision, while analysts at two independent research firms raised their Cloudflare revenue growth forecasts by an average of 150 basis points for fiscal 2027, citing improved monetization of creator data as a key catalyst.