Rohan Midha, Aditi Hiremath and Sam Foody are the trio behind Mercor, the rapidly growing AI marketplace connecting expert professionals with the world’s leading artificial intelligence laboratories. Since founding the company in 2023, they have become the youngest self-made billionaires in the tech sector, processed more than £1.5 million daily in expert payouts, achieved an annualised revenue run rate of £500 million, and secured backing from top-tier investors. Their innovative approach has positioned Mercor at the forefront of the AI economy.
From Debate Team to AI Trailblazers
In 2023, three college dropouts returned to San Francisco with an ambitious vision to transform how frontier artificial intelligence labs access expert human insight. Midha, Hiremath and Foody had been friends since elementary school debate competitions, later captaining their nationally ranked high school team at Bellarmine College Preparatory. Their early collaboration foreshadowed the teamwork that would drive Mercor’s rapid ascent.
All three initially pursued traditional university paths, with Hiremath at Harvard and Midha and Foody at Georgetown, but left in 2023 to focus entirely on building Mercor. Their entrepreneurial leap was supported by the Thiel Fellowship, which funds young innovators who choose venture creation over conventional degrees.
Human Expertise at Scale
Mercor began as a platform connecting freelance software engineers in India with US companies. By integrating AI-driven preliminary interviews, the founders streamlined talent matching but quickly identified a larger opportunity. Today, Mercor operates as a marketplace linking expert contractors, including PhD holders, lawyers and financial professionals, with leading AI labs such as OpenAI. These specialists provide the nuanced feedback that enables AI models to navigate complex, real-world scenarios.
“Human expertise is the foundation of what AI can achieve, our marketplace does not replace people, it scales their knowledge to build better systems.”
Sam Foody, Co-Founder, Mercor
The platform addresses a critical gap in AI development. While models excel in narrow, technical tasks, they struggle with context, judgement and subtle communication. Mercor’s human-first approach bridges this divide, turning specialised knowledge into structured data that fuels next-generation AI.
Rapid Scale, Real Results
Mercor’s growth has been meteoric. By March 2024, it reached 100 million pounds in annualised revenue, and by September it had reached 500 million. The company now processes 1.5 million pounds daily in payouts to experts, supporting over 360 professionals globally and employing 200 staff in the US.
Investors have taken note. A recent round led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from Benchmark, General Catalyst and Robinhood Ventures, all show confidence in both the team and their market positioning. Comparisons to early-stage platforms highlight scale. In its first two years, Uber paid just over 1 million pounds to drivers; Airbnb 10 million. Mercor’s payouts demonstrate the marketplace’s unmatched velocity.
Capitalising on Market Shifts
The data labelling sector has seen significant upheaval. Meta’s acquisition of 49 percent of Scale AI for 14 billion pounds, coupled with Scale’s founder Alexandr Wang moving to lead Meta AI initiatives, reshaped competitive dynamics. Mercor has leveraged this opening, winning contracts with frontier labs seeking independence from Meta-aligned vendors.
At just 22, they are younger than Mark Zuckerberg was when he debuted on the Forbes billionaire list. Midha is the youngest by a few months. Hiremath reflects on the surreal trajectory, observing that without Mercor, he would have graduated only months ago. All three remain deeply rooted in Bay Area tech culture, children of software engineers with early exposure to the sector.
Defining a New AI Economy
Mercor’s model signals a shift in how the AI economy may evolve. Instead of a zero-sum game where automation replaces humans, Mercor leverages professional insight to enhance AI capabilities. Their approach suggests a future in which diverse specialists participate directly in AI development, shaping intelligent systems while benefiting financially from their knowledge.
The founders’ rise has been extraordinary, combining technical skill, strategic timing and a rare entrepreneurial instinct. Whether Mercor sustains momentum amid intensifying competition remains to be seen but the company has already cemented its place at the forefront of the AI revolution.