Mercor
Worth-Joining Index · Scorecard
v2.1 ALPHA · 2026-08Career Score
71/100
Coverage
76%
Verified
40%
Stage cohort
Late
Vibe Check
🎪 community voting coming soon
Latest valuation
$10B (Series C, 2025-10)
Total raised
~$450M+ (through Series C)
Traction · Key numbers
Funding
Total raised
~$450M+ (through Series C)
Rounds
4
Valuation pace
$250M
$350M
Series C · 2025-10 · valuation $10B post (Series C, 2025-10) · led by Felicis Ventures
With: Benchmark, General Catalyst, Robinhood Ventures · 5x valuation jump in 8 months
$100M
Series B · 2025-02 · valuation $2B post · led by Felicis Ventures
With: Benchmark, General Catalyst, DST Global, Menlo Ventures · 8x valuation jump from prior round
$32M
Series A · 2024 · valuation $250M · led by Benchmark
$3.6M
Seed · 2023 · led by General Catalyst
▸Valuation ran from $2B to $10B in 8 months, and reports of a $20B round surfaced by July 2026 — a pace far beyond typical SaaS multiples, worth discounting for overshoot
▸Felicis Ventures led both Series B and C — a signal of conviction from a repeat lead
▸Revenue concentration in a handful of frontier AI labs' data/training budgets is the softest spot in this valuation story
Founders
Brendan Foody CEO
Thiel Fellow, founded Mercor at 21
Adarsh Hiremath CTO
Thiel Fellow, co-founder and technical lead
Surya Midha COO
Thiel Fellow, co-founder and operations lead
Reality · Working here
Signals & Risks
Editorial ✎
Good fit for
· Ops/sales talent who want a foothold in the AI training-data supply chain — customers are the top frontier labs, great for building elite relationships
· People who can tolerate immature process amid hypergrowth — all three founders are around 21, and management is still learning at scale
· Operators skilled at running marketplace/crowdsourced supply — Mercor's core moat is fast dispatch of large pools of expert reviewers
Not for
· Anyone who wants a stable, predictable cadence — both valuation and business focus have shifted multiple times in just over a year
· Anyone who assumes a seasoned executive bench is already in place — leadership is very young with limited large-org experience
Ask in the interview
1. If one or two top AI labs cut spend or build labeling in-house, how much revenue disappears?
2. Is the pivot from recruiting/interview SaaS to a labor-data platform complete, or is the company still straddling both lines?
3. What actually backs the jump from $10B to a rumored $20B valuation — an ARR multiple, or pure market sentiment?
Data changelog
Community corrections → editorial review → applied, fully on the record
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