Datavault AI Inc. announced on March 19 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NYIAX Inc. in an all-stock transaction. The deal combines Datavault AI’s AI-driven data monetization platform with NYIAX’s institutional-grade blockchain-powered trading infrastructure. Under the terms, NYIAX shareholders will receive 78,947,368 shares of Datavault AI common stock, with up to 13 million additional shares available through an earn-out contingent on completing a qualifying trading market transaction within one year of closing.
The acquisition follows a letter of intent signed in October 2025 and will see NYIAX operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Datavault AI. NYIAX brings an intellectual property portfolio and a trading platform originally built for programmatic advertising inventory but since expanded to handle other asset classes. Datavault AI’s platform uses machine learning to help organizations extract value from proprietary data sets — a capability the company says generated $33.8 million in Q4 2025 revenue, representing a 3,650 percent year-over-year increase.
The combined entity plans to launch specialized exchanges for trading several categories of information assets: advertising inventory, critical infrastructure data, political media inventory, and athlete name, image, and likeness rights. The NIL market has grown substantially since NCAA rule changes in 2021 allowed college athletes to monetize their identities, but trading infrastructure for NIL deals remains fragmented and largely manual. Datavault AI is positioning the merged platform as an automated, transparent marketplace for these transactions.
The deal structure carries standard conditions including shareholder approval and regulatory clearance. Neither company has disclosed a specific closing timeline beyond stating it is expected to occur in the first half of 2026. NYIAX’s blockchain layer provides an auditable transaction record — a feature that distinguishes its approach from conventional ad exchanges where transparency has been a persistent industry complaint.
For the AI data monetization sector, the acquisition signals consolidation between AI analytics companies and trading infrastructure providers. Datavault AI’s revenue growth, if sustained, suggests demand for platforms that help enterprises treat their data as a tradeable asset. Whether the combined platform can execute on the ambitious plan to launch multiple specialized exchanges simultaneously will determine whether this remains a niche deal or establishes a template for AI-powered asset trading at scale.
