Adarsh Hiremath | $1B+
Get in touch with Adarsh Hiremath | Adarsh Hiremath, cofounder and CTO of Mercor, has emerged as one of the youngest billionaires of the AI era after helping build the company into a fast-rising platform that connects expert talent with AI labs and enterprises. Launched in 2023 with Brendan Foody and Surya Midha, Mercor sits at the intersection of recruiting, human expertise, and artificial intelligence, as companies use specialized professionals to train and evaluate advanced models. Known for a low public profile and deep technical role, Hiremath has become one of the standout new fortunes of the AI boom.
Adarsh Hiremath, cofounder and CTO of Mercor, has emerged as one of the youngest billionaires of the AI era after helping build the company into a fast-rising platform that connects expert talent with AI labs and enterprises. Launched in 2023 with Brendan Foody and Surya Midha, Mercor sits at the intersection of recruiting, human expertise, and artificial intelligence, as companies use specialized professionals to train and evaluate advanced models. Known for a low public profile and deep technical role, Hiremath has become one of the standout new fortunes of the AI boom.
Mercor is an American artificial intelligence startup founded in 2023 by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha, headquartered at 181 Fremont in San Francisco, California, and employed around 300 people as of 2025. It operates an AI-powered hiring platform that conducts automated interviews to screen and match expert contractors in fields such as AI, law, finance, STEM, clinical research, engineering, and more to remote roles focused on training frontier AI models and chatbots for leading AI labs and enterprises. As of October 2025, the company managed 30,000 contractors and achieved a $10 billion valuation following a Series C funding round.[1]The platform's core process involves AI-generated, customized interviews based on a candidate's resume and the specific job description. Candidates participate in real-time conversational interviews via camera and microphone, typically lasting around 20 minutes, where they provide verbal responses to tailored questions designed to assess genuine expertise and skills. The AI transcribes the responses, evaluates performance objectively, and generates scores or assessments used to match candidates to opportunities. No human interviewers are involved in the initial screening phase; candidates can access a practice interview and retake the main interview up to three times through the Mercor dashboard.[1]Mercor emphasizes connecting human expertise with AI development needs, offering competitive hourly pay in high-demand domains and daily payouts to contractors. The platform has shifted from early focus on freelance programming connections to specializing in data labeling and expert contributions for advancing AI technologies, serving prominent clients in the AI industry.[1]
Overview
Business model
Mercor's business model centers on operating an AI-powered platform that matches domain experts with leading artificial intelligence laboratories and enterprises requiring specialized human input to train and refine frontier AI models and chatbots. The company sources and screens contractors in fields such as medicine, law, finance, and other technical domains, then assigns them to client projects where they provide feedback, evaluate model outputs, and share contextual knowledge to enhance AI capabilities.[2][3]Clients, including major AI developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, pay Mercor for access to this vetted talent pool, typically through hourly fees that include a finder's fee and matching charge. The remainder is passed directly to contractors, who earn an average of over $85 per hour.[2][4]The model generates revenue by facilitating scalable, high-value human-AI collaboration, with the company paying out more than $1.5 million per day to its contractor network and on track to reach $500 million in annual recurring revenue as reported in October 2025.[2][5]As of late 2025, Mercor managed over 30,000 contractors worldwide, reflecting its shift from initial AI-driven technical recruiting to a specialized focus on supplying expert labor for AI model training needs.[2][4]
Platform features
The Mercor platform provides a dashboard where candidates manage their applications, initiate interviews, and track progress. From the dashboard, users access the Application tab to start interview steps and the Assessments tab to view interview status and manage retakes.[6]Interviews occur through a real-time conversational video interface, requiring a working camera and microphone for verbal responses. Candidates must use a supported browser on a computer, test their equipment beforehand, and maintain a stable, distraction-free environment. The interview typically lasts about 20 minutes.[6]Candidates can retake an interview up to three times across applications for the same interview type, with retakes handled directly through the dashboard by selecting the option next to a submitted status. If attempts are exhausted due to technical issues, candidates may contact support for potential additional attempts with evidence.[6]A free practice interview is available via a dedicated link and does not impact future opportunities, although the previous mock interview feature has been deprecated.[6]The AI interviewer generates role-specific questions tailored to the position.[6]
Target expertise areas
Mercor AI's platform specializes in matching expert contractors to remote opportunities focused on training and evaluating frontier AI models and chatbots, primarily for clients developing large language models.The targeted expertise areas center on domains requiring deep specialized knowledge, including artificial intelligence, law, finance, and STEM fields.Additional key areas encompass engineering and clinical research.Representative roles include lawyers providing legal reasoning and case analysis, financial analysts contributing to financial modeling and market evaluation, clinical researchers offering medical domain insights, PhD-level engineers conducting technical assessments, and generalist rubrics experts performing standardized grading and feedback tasks.These domains are selected for their relevance to generating high-quality training data, annotations, and human judgments essential for advancing AI capabilities in specialized contexts.[1]
History
Founding
Mercor was founded in 2023 by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha, three Bay Area high school friends who had competed together on the Bellarmine College Preparatory Speech and Debate Team.The founders dropped out of college during their sophomore year to launch Mercor full-time.At launch, Mercor focused on connecting talented individuals, particularly in India, with job opportunities at U.S. companies seeking remote talent. This initial model addressed inefficiencies in talent matching before the company's later shift toward AI-driven expert screening.
Business evolution
Mercor began operations in 2023 as an AI-powered platform focused on connecting candidates to remote job opportunities through a streamlined application process.The company later pivoted to a model centered on supplying expert contractors for data labeling and the training of frontier AI models. This shift responded to the growing need among leading AI organizations for high-quality, specialized human contributions to improve large language models and chatbots.Mercor subsequently expanded its scope to encompass a wider range of expert domains beyond its early focus, including law, finance, STEM, and other specialized fields. This broadening enabled the platform to match professionals across diverse disciplines with opportunities to support AI development projects for prominent clients in the AI industry.In its evolved form, the company employs an AI-powered interview process to screen candidates objectively for these roles.
Key milestones
In 2025, Mercor achieved several notable milestones reflecting its rapid growth and recognition in the AI industry.In 2025, Mercor appointed Sundeep Jain, former chief product officer at Uber, as president.In October 2025, the company achieved a $10 billion valuation following its Series C funding round.[3]
Leadership
Founders
Mercor was co-founded in 2023 by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha, who serve as chief executive officer, chief technology officer, and board chairman, respectively. All three are Bay Area natives from families with software engineering backgrounds, and they first connected through competitive debate programs—Hiremath and Midha met at age 10 during elementary school tournaments, while Foody joined them in high school. As Thiel Fellows, they received grants to forgo or drop out of traditional college paths in order to launch the company.[7]Brendan Foody, the CEO, grew up as the son of software engineers—his mother worked on Meta’s real estate team and his father founded a graphics interface company in the 1990s before becoming a startup advisor. At age 16, Foody started a small company charging friends $500 each to secure AWS promotions. He has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 AI list for 2025.[7]Adarsh Hiremath serves as CTO. He attended Harvard for two years before dropping out after his sophomore year. During college, he conducted labor market research under former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who later invested in Mercor. Hiremath has also been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 AI list for 2025.[7]Surya Midha, the youngest of the trio with a June birthday, is board chairman. He shares a similar background in Bay Area tech families and debate circles with his co-founders. Like the others, he is a Thiel Fellow and has appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 AI list for 2025.[7]In October 2025, following a $350 million Series C funding round led by Felicis Ventures that valued Mercor at $10 billion, each founder—holding roughly 22% equity—became a self-made billionaire at age 22, surpassing Mark Zuckerberg's record and becoming the world's youngest self-made billionaires.[7][2][3]
Executive team
Sundeep Jain serves as President of Mercor. Jain joined the company in January 2025, following his tenure as chief product officer at Uber, where he contributed to product strategy and scaling efforts.[8]
Funding
Investment rounds
Mercor has raised funds through multiple rounds:
Seed round (2023–2024): Mercor announced $3.6 million in seed funding in early 2024 upon launching its platform, led by General Catalyst with participation from investors including Scott Sandell (NEA), Soma Capital, Link Ventures, and others. This supported initial development and pilots.
Series A (September 2024): Mercor raised $30 million in a Series A round at a $250 million valuation. The round was led by Benchmark's Victor Lazarte and Bill Gurley, with participation from Jack Dorsey, Peter Thiel, Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Greylock, and Menlo Ventures.
Series B (February 2025): Mercor raised $100 million in a Series B round at a $2 billion valuation (an 8x increase from Series A). The round was led by Felicis, with participation from existing investors Benchmark, General Catalyst, DST Global, and Menlo Ventures.
Series C (October 2025): $350 million raised at a $10 billion valuation, led by Felicis with Benchmark, General Catalyst, and new investor Robinhood Ventures. This quintupled the valuation from Series B and reflected rapid growth in AI expert matching.
Valuation achievements
Key valuation milestones include:
$250 million post-Series A (September 2024)
$2 billion post-Series B (February 2025)
$10 billion post-Series C (October 2025), making the company's founders—Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha—the youngest self-made billionaires at age 22.
These rounds fueled platform scaling, AI interview tech, and expansion of the contractor network to over 30,000 experts.
Operations
AI interview process
Mercor's AI interview process serves as the primary screening mechanism for candidates applying to expert roles, utilizing an AI interviewer to conduct role-specific evaluations in a consistent and scalable manner. The process begins with the AI generating customized questions based on the candidate's résumé and the job description.[9]The interview takes place as a real-time conversational session requiring verbal responses through a working camera and microphone, typically lasting approximately 20 minutes, though some may vary in length. Candidates must complete the interview in a quiet, distraction-free environment using a supported browser such as Google Chrome, with pre-interview checks ensuring camera, microphone, and any required screen-sharing permissions are enabled. During the session, candidates can pause to think, request question repetition, or clarify points with the AI. Interviews are conducted directly through the Mercor dashboard, where candidates initiate the process from their application tab.[6][10]No human interviewers participate in the initial screening; the AI serves as the standard and only method for this stage. The AI transcribes candidate responses in real time and evaluates performance objectively based on the content provided, focusing on genuine expertise and skills relevant to the role. This evaluation produces an assessment used to determine candidate suitability for matching to opportunities.[6][9][10]A practice interview is available for candidates to familiarize themselves with the format without affecting future applications. Candidates may retake a given interview up to three times across related applications to improve their responses, with retake options accessible via the dashboard's Assessments tab after submission.[6][10] Mercor utilizes the Domain Expert Interview as the primary reusable assessment for evaluating domain-specific knowledge, particularly in fields like healthcare and medicine. This interview is customized based on the candidate's resume and the targeted role, typically conducted as a 15-25 minute video session, and can be reused across applications for similar roles.For more specialized subdomains, such as cardiology, a follow-up Subject-Matter Expert or advanced interview may be triggered to qualify for higher-level or more complex projects.Non-physician (non-MD) domain experts in healthcare can participate via the Domain Expert Interview in the medical category, which directs them to suitable AI-related annotation, evaluation, and training tasks.These assessments are designed to verify genuine expertise beyond resume details, complementing the available practice interviews and up to three retake opportunities.
Contractor recruitment and matching
Mercor manages a pool of over 30,000 contractors as of October 2025, who collectively earn more than $1.5 million per day while working on AI training projects.[11][12]Following successful AI interviews, contractors are matched to remote expert roles focused on training frontier AI models and chatbots for clients, including OpenAI and Anthropic.[12][13] Matching prioritizes alignment between contractors' demonstrated expertise and specific project requirements, enabling rapid deployment such as the hiring of 25 Math Olympiad winners in a single day to support an OpenAI initiative.[13]Contractors are assigned to tailored tasks that leverage their specialized knowledge, with examples including dermatologists earning up to $250 per hour to develop healthcare decision-support tools and poets earning up to $150 per hour to enhance AI understanding of literary nuance and emotional expression.[12] Upon matching, contractors sign agreements and install time-tracking software to monitor billable hours and ensure compliance during project work, which may last weeks or months.[12]The company continues to advance its matching systems to connect experts more effectively with AI training opportunities, building on the contractor pool to meet demand from major AI labs.[11]
Recognition
Awards and media mentions
In 2025, Mercor AI's founders—Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha—were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the artificial intelligence category, recognizing their work in building an AI-driven hiring platform for expert contractors.Later that year, in October 2025, Mercor was included in Bloomberg's "24 AI Startups to Watch in 2026" list, highlighting the company's role in supporting frontier AI model development through its specialized contractor matching system.[14]
Industry impact
Mercor AI has played a pivotal role in accelerating the development of frontier AI models by connecting specialized human expertise to leading AI laboratories. The company manages a global network of 30,000 contractors who perform tasks such as data labeling, response evaluation, sentence writing, and expert feedback to refine chatbots and other advanced systems. These contractors include professionals from fields like law, medicine, finance, journalism, and other domains, providing domain-specific knowledge essential for improving model accuracy and sophistication. Major AI developers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, rely on this network to enhance their models.[4][11]By enabling remote, high-skill contributions to AI training, Mercor unlocks human potential within AI infrastructure and creates new opportunities for white-collar experts. Contractors, such as doctors earning up to $170 per hour and specialists in other areas, can moonlight by sharing knowledge and context, generating collective daily earnings exceeding $1.5 million across the workforce. This model reflects a broader integration of human intelligence into AI development, where expert input augments system capabilities and supports the labor-intensive aspects of refining large-scale models.[4][11]Mercor's scale and focus on expert matching have positioned it as a critical component in the AI ecosystem, particularly amid market shifts in data labeling and annotation services. The company's operations highlight evolving dynamics in the labor market for AI-related expert work, where specialized knowledge becomes a key resource in the race to build more advanced artificial intelligence.[4][11]
Contributions to AI Training in Legal Domains
Mercor specializes in sourcing high-expertise contractors, including corporate lawyers from firms like Latham & Watkins, to create agentic data for training AI models in legal tasks. This includes developing realistic, long-horizon scenarios involving contract drafting, legal research, regulatory advice, and precedent analysis in simulated professional environments.A key contribution is the APEX-Agents benchmark, consisting of 480 tasks (160 in law across 12 worlds), created by veteran professionals. A subset is available on Hugging Face (mercor/apex-agents) under CC-BY-4.0 for evaluation only (training forbidden). Tasks test AI agents on multi-step workflows with tools like documents, spreadsheets, email, and calendars.Mercor has demonstrated data impact through partnerships, e.g., with Applied Compute: post-training GLM 4.7 on ~2,000 high-quality labeled tasks achieved state-of-the-art on APEX-Agents corporate law leaderboard (Pass@1 26.6%, mean score 54.8%). Earlier experiments with ~874-1,000 samples nearly doubled baseline Pass@1 and mean scores (see arXiv:2601.14242). This validates expert data's role in closing performance gaps for professional legal AI.Mercor claims to supply expert data to top AI labs, including OpenAI and Anthropic, bypassing direct proprietary data sharing by using former industry professionals to generate synthetic equivalents.Mercor has faced related controversies, including a September 2025 lawsuit from Scale AI alleging trade secret misappropriation involving a former employee, and a class action lawsuit accusing Mercor and OpenAI of misclassifying AI training contractors and denying benefits such as workers' compensation.
Reception
Mercor has received mixed feedback from users and employees.Employee reviews on Glassdoor give Mercor a 3.8 out of 5 rating based on 83 reviews, indicating generally positive experiences with aspects like culture and opportunities, though some note rapid pace and competitive environment.On Trustpilot, the platform holds a 4.0 out of 5 rating from 237 reviews, with praise for reliable payments, helpful project managers, and opportunities to contribute to AI advancement.Candidate and contractor experiences vary. Positive aspects include flexible remote contract work, competitive hourly rates (often $50–150+/hr for experts), weekly payouts, and the novelty of AI-driven matching. Many appreciate contributing to frontier AI models.Criticisms focus on the AI interview process being impersonal, monotone, clunky, or feeling like data collection rather than fair assessment. Some users report high competition, multiple interviews without landing paid roles, sudden project pauses/cancellations leading to inconsistent income, poor communication, and privacy concerns from required monitoring software (camera, mic, screenshots, browser access). Forums like Reddit highlight frustrations with perceived unreliability or "feast or famine" work nature, though confirmations exist that legitimate payments occur for completed work.These reflect common challenges in emerging AI talent marketplaces, with strengths in scale and pay offset by execution gaps in user experience and consistency. == Controversies ==In September 2025, Scale AI filed a lawsuit against Mercor and former employee Eugene Ling for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. The suit claimed that Ling downloaded over 100 confidential documents on customer strategies before joining Mercor. Mercor denied using any stolen information.Additionally, a California class-action lawsuit accused Mercor (and in some claims OpenAI) of misclassifying workers as independent contractors, leading to unpaid wages, unreimbursed expenses, and invalid noncompetes under California labor laws. The suit argues Mercor's model relies on misclassification for compliance avoidance.
Disclaimer: This profile is based on publicly available information. No endorsement or affiliation is implied.
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