Mercor is an AI-powered hiring and expert-sourcing platform that connects AI labs with specialized domain experts, such as scientists, doctors, and lawyers, for model training and evaluation. The company was founded in January 2023 by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha, who started the business at 22 and became some of the youngest self-made billionaires in 2025 as it scaled.
Mercor raised a $350 million Series C in October 2025 at a $10 billion valuation, roughly five times the $2 billion valuation from its $100 million Series B just eight months earlier, bringing total funding to about $484 million. Investors include General Catalyst, Benchmark, Menlo Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and Peter Thiel. The company has pivoted from its original model of matching international engineers with startups toward supplying frontier AI labs with vetted expert workforces.