Is Hive AI profitable in 2026?

Hive has not disclosed audited revenue or profit figures. Its last confirmed valuation is $2B from an April 2021 Series D raise led by Glynn Capital, and no new priced round has been publicly confirmed since, despite a record $510B AI VC funding boom in H1 2026.

Could AI replace Hive's content moderation business?

Generic text and image moderation is being commoditized by free tools like OpenAI's Moderation API, which as of mid-2026 covers text plus basic image categories. However, Hive's DoD contract (won from 36 vendors, late 2024) and sole-source DHS CSAM contract (Sept 2025) sit in a regulated niche harder for models to absorb.

Who are Hive AI's biggest competitors?

Hive competes with point solutions ActiveFence, Checkstep, Sightengine, WebPurify, and Mixpeek, plus hyperscaler bundled tools: OpenAI's Moderation API, Google SafeSearch, Azure Content Safety, and AWS Rekognition, though AWS closed video and batch image moderation to new customers on April 30, 2026, per a June 2026 comparison report.

Is Hive AI a safe company to join in 2026?

Glassdoor rated Hive 3.3/5 as of May 27, 2026, with 59% recommending the company and 63% approving the CEO, while some reviews cite weak management structure. Full-time headcount grew only about 2% year over year, from roughly 488 in May 2024 to 515-516 by July 2026.

Has Hive AI raised new funding recently?

No new priced round has been publicly confirmed since Hive's April 2021 Series D, a $50M raise led by Glynn Capital at a $2B valuation. Total disclosed capital raised across all rounds is roughly $120M, per the company's own site as of July 2026.

What government contracts does Hive AI hold?

Hive was selected from a pool of 36 competing vendors for a U.S. Department of Defense deepfake-detection contract in late 2024, and won a sole-source U.S. DHS Cyber Crimes Center contract for CSAM and AI-generated-content detection in September 2025, per MIT Technology Review.

United States · United States

Hive

AI detection company for deepfakes, CSAM, and content moderation, serving governments and platforms.

Losing its protection

Assessed 29 July 2026 · Evidence as of 29 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 29 July 2026 · Checkable from FY2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: DoD/DHS contract renewal or expansion cycle

The call

Hive's government niche looks protected for now, but its commercial moderation business sits in the direct path of free AI tools from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft.

Hive sells software that finds deepfakes, child abuse images, and other illegal content online. It has real government contracts (with the Defense Department and Homeland Security) that are hard for competitors to win because they require security clearances and legal liability protection, which big tech companies like OpenAI and Google don't want. But Hive's regular business selling to other companies is getting crushed because OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft are giving away the same features for free or bundling them into their products. The company has not raised fresh funding since 2021 and is barely hiring, which suggests the payoff depends entirely on whether those government contracts grow into something much bigger.

Why

AI pressure: OpenAI Moderation API. Free text and image moderation from OpenAI already undercuts Hive's commercial pricing; video and audio expansion would hit the rest. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.

Bigger players: Microsoft Azure Content Safety, Google SafeSearch. Cloud giants bundle moderation into existing platform deals, squeezing Hive's non-government customer base on price. Could a giant copy it? Probably.

What protects it. Sole-source DHS and DoD contracts, security clearances, and a 5M+ labeled dataset that generic AI tools can't easily match for CSAM and deepfake detection.

What would change this call

Hive announces a new priced funding round (up, down, or none) within 12 months. Would show whether investors still value Hive above or below the stale $2B 2021 mark.
OpenAI or Google ships production-quality video/audio moderation at scale. Would show Hive's commercial moderation doorway is being hollowed out by free tools.
Hive's next DoD or DHS contract cycle results in renewal/expansion versus one-off pilot. Would show whether its government niche is a durable book or a one-time win.

Key numbers

$2B valuation, unchanged since April 2021 (2021-04-01)
Headcount ~516, up only ~2%/yr since 2024 (2026-07-21)
DoD picked Hive from 36 competing vendors (2024-12-31)

Named risks

Commodity content moderation segment eroded by free bundled tools from OpenAI, Google, Azure. Severity: high
No priced funding round since April 2021 despite a $510B H1 2026 AI funding boom. Severity: medium
Headcount growth plateaued at roughly 2% per year over the last two years. Severity: medium
Dependence on renewal of concentrated DoD and DHS government contracts for defensible niche. Severity: medium
Employee reviews cite weak management structure, 3.3/5 Glassdoor rating as of May 2026. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
OpenAI (Moderation API)	losing to	Free text plus image moderation API bundled by OpenAI as of mid-2026, undercutting commodity pricing
Amazon Rekognition	gaining on	AWS closed video and batch image moderation to new customers April 30, 2026, opening room for Hive
Microsoft / UK Government deepfake framework	contesting	Microsoft co-developing deepfake detection evaluation framework with UK government, 2026
ActiveFence, Checkstep, Sightengine, WebPurify, Mixpeek	contesting	Named as closest point-solution rivals in trust and safety tooling, per June 2026 comparison report
Google SafeSearch, Azure Content Safety	losing to	Bundled hyperscaler moderation primitives compress addressable market for standalone vendors like Hive, 2026

Questions people ask

Is Hive AI profitable in 2026?: Hive has not disclosed audited revenue or profit figures. Its last confirmed valuation is $2B from an April 2021 Series D raise led by Glynn Capital, and no new priced round has been publicly confirmed since, despite a record $510B AI VC funding boom in H1 2026.
Could AI replace Hive's content moderation business?: Generic text and image moderation is being commoditized by free tools like OpenAI's Moderation API, which as of mid-2026 covers text plus basic image categories. However, Hive's DoD contract (won from 36 vendors, late 2024) and sole-source DHS CSAM contract (Sept 2025) sit in a regulated niche harder for models to absorb.
Who are Hive AI's biggest competitors?: Hive competes with point solutions ActiveFence, Checkstep, Sightengine, WebPurify, and Mixpeek, plus hyperscaler bundled tools: OpenAI's Moderation API, Google SafeSearch, Azure Content Safety, and AWS Rekognition, though AWS closed video and batch image moderation to new customers on April 30, 2026, per a June 2026 comparison report.
Is Hive AI a safe company to join in 2026?: Glassdoor rated Hive 3.3/5 as of May 27, 2026, with 59% recommending the company and 63% approving the CEO, while some reviews cite weak management structure. Full-time headcount grew only about 2% year over year, from roughly 488 in May 2024 to 515-516 by July 2026.
Has Hive AI raised new funding recently?: No new priced round has been publicly confirmed since Hive's April 2021 Series D, a $50M raise led by Glynn Capital at a $2B valuation. Total disclosed capital raised across all rounds is roughly $120M, per the company's own site as of July 2026.
What government contracts does Hive AI hold?: Hive was selected from a pool of 36 competing vendors for a U.S. Department of Defense deepfake-detection contract in late 2024, and won a sole-source U.S. DHS Cyber Crimes Center contract for CSAM and AI-generated-content detection in September 2025, per MIT Technology Review.

Timeline

2026-05-19TAKE IT DOWN Act deepfake-content requirements take effect, Hive positions tools as compliance infrastructure
2026-01-01Hive launches Hive Detect for Enterprises, a no-API drag-and-drop deepfake verification UI
2025-11-01Hive launches free public X Bot for real-time AI-generated content detection on X
2025-09-26Hive awarded sole-source DHS Cyber Crimes Center contract for CSAM/AI-content detection
2025-04-01Hive endorses the federal NO FAKES Act
2024-12-01Hive selected from pool of 36 vendors for U.S. Department of Defense deepfake-detection contract
2024-01-01University of Chicago study finds Hive's AI-image detector outperforms four rivals and human review
2021-04-01Hive closes $50M Series D led by Glynn Capital at $2B valuation
2020-01-01Hive raises $37M Series C at roughly $1B valuation
2018-08-01Hive raises $13.5M Series B led by Tomales Bay Capital

Revision history

29 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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