What is Mercor? The company, its founders and what to know before you join
Mercor is an AI hiring marketplace turned supplier of expert human data to AI labs. This page covers the company: who runs it, how it earns, and what the press has reported.
Updated October 17, 2026 · figures dated and sourced
Disclosure: we are a referral partner of micro1, which competes with Mercor. We have no relationship with Mercor and earn nothing if you go there. See the affiliate disclosure. This page is about the company; pay, the AI interview and payments are in our Mercor review.
Short answer
Mercor is a San Francisco startup, founded in 2023, that matches vetted experts to contract work training AI models for labs and companies. It raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation in October 2025 and says it passed $2 billion in annualized revenue in 2026. It also had a data breach in March 2026 and has drawn contractor complaints and lawsuits. It is a real company, and also one where your work is project-based and your data is sensitive.
What Mercor does
Mercor describes itself as organizing human intelligence to power the AI economy. In practice it supplies people with professional skills to AI developers. CNBC reported in October 2025 that it started as a hiring company that assessed candidates by analyzing interviews and resumes, then pivoted after building a network of specialized experts. The Verge described the early product as a platform that used AI interviews to match overseas engineers with tech companies, and said the company adapted when AI developers asked for people to produce training data.
The work experts do includes writing grading rubrics, scoring chatbot answers, writing ideal "golden" answers and writing prompts designed to make a model fail, according to The Verge's 2026 reporting. Mercor also now says it builds AI benchmarks (APEX) and sells to large companies deploying AI.
How Mercor makes money
AI labs and companies pay Mercor for expert work. TechCrunch reported that Mercor charges an hourly "finder's fee and matching rate" on the work its experts perform, and experts are paid an hourly rate per project. We found no source for the exact margin. Mercor's contractor docs say it offers only independent contractor roles, not employment.
Revenue figures are the company's own. TechCrunch reported in October 2025 that Mercor told investors it was on track for $500 million in annual recurring revenue. Fortune reported in July 2026 that CEO Brendan Foody said the run rate had reached $2 billion. Mercor's spokesperson also said in October 2026 that the company is profitable. We could not independently confirm any of these.
Who founded Mercor
Brendan Foody (CEO), Adarsh Hiremath (CTO) and Surya Midha started Mercor in 2023 after meeting at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. They left Harvard and Georgetown, and Fortune reports all three were Thiel Fellowship recipients. KTVU, citing Forbes, reported in November 2025 that at 22 they were the world's youngest self-made billionaires. Titles differ by source: some outlets call Midha board chairman and others call him COO.
Funding and valuation
- February 2025: $100 million Series B led by Felicis (CNBC).
- 27 October 2025: $350 million Series C at a $10 billion valuation, led by Felicis with Benchmark, General Catalyst and Robinhood Ventures (Mercor, TechCrunch).
- July 2026: TechCrunch, citing Bloomberg, reported talks to raise about $500 million at about $20 billion. We found no company announcement that a round closed, so treat $10 billion as the last confirmed valuation.
Who its customers are
Mercor usually does not name clients, and its contractors are contractually barred from naming them. Fortune reported in April 2026 that its customers include Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta. Business Insider reported that one project, codenamed Musen, was a large project for Meta. Treat named customers as press reports, not Mercor announcements.
Timeline
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | Mercor is started by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, who were 19 and dropped out of college. | Harvard Crimson, 27 March 2024; The Verge, 10 March 2026 |
| February 2025 | $100 million Series B led by Felicis. | CNBC, 27 October 2025 |
| 27 October 2025 | $350 million Series C at a $10 billion valuation. Mercor and TechCrunch confirm the valuation. | Mercor blog; TechCrunch; CNBC |
| 12 November 2025 | Business Insider reports a Meta-related project ending and a replacement paying $5 less per hour. | Business Insider |
| 31 March 2026 | Mercor discloses a data breach linked to a supply-chain attack on the LiteLLM software library. | TechCrunch, 9 April 2026 |
| 25 June 2026 | Mercor publishes the results of its investigation and starts notifying affected experts. | Mercor blog |
| 9 July 2026 | Mercor buys Deeptune, a startup that builds environments for AI training. Bloomberg reports talks to raise at about $20 billion. | Fortune; TechCrunch |
The 2026 data breach
This is the most searched controversy, so here is what is confirmed and what is not.
Confirmed by Mercor
- In late March 2026 it was affected by a supply-chain attack on LiteLLM, a widely used open-source tool. Malicious versions of the library were published to harvest credentials. Mercor disclosed the incident on 31 March.
- On 25 June 2026 Mercor published its findings. It says that of its nearly five million experts, "only a very limited subset" had sensitive information affected, that it found no evidence the data was used fraudulently, and that it would notify those people directly with an offer of TransUnion identity protection. It says no employee data was affected.
- It did not give the number of people affected.
Claimed but not confirmed by Mercor
- The hacking group Lapsus$ listed Mercor on its leak site and claimed up to four terabytes of data. TechCrunch reported the claim included candidate profiles, personal information, source code and API keys. Mercor has not confirmed that.
- Class action lawsuits filed by contractors allege that the platform held recorded interviews, facial biometrics, identity documents, tax and banking details, and screenshots. These are plaintiffs' allegations. Gazetteer SF reported in October 2026 that Mercor faces at least seven such suits.
- Wired reported, and TechCrunch repeated, that Meta paused its contracts with Mercor after the breach. Mercor declined to comment then, and says all frontier labs have since increased their work with it.
What it means if you applied or worked there
Mercor's own docs say applicants upload a government ID and a selfie video through Persona, complete an AI interview that is recorded, may go through background checks, and use monitoring software that takes screenshots during hourly work. If you went through those steps before March 2026, watch for Mercor's notice email (check spam), be careful with messages that mention Mercor projects, and consider a credit freeze. We cannot tell you whether your data was affected. Only Mercor's notice does. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.
Contractor complaints and lawsuits
Business Insider reported in November 2025 that Mercor told thousands of contractors a large Meta-related project was ending, then offered similar work at $16 an hour, $5 less than before. Mercor's spokesperson called the information inaccurate without saying what, and said it is transparent that the work is temporary and project-based. The Verge, after interviewing more than 30 workers in 2026, reported that many said demands rose, time allowances shrank and pay fell as projects continued, and that those who could not keep up were offboarded. Workers spoke anonymously.
Separately, a proposed class action filed in Texas in May 2026 alleges workers were misclassified as contractors. Mercor has asked for it to go to arbitration, and no ruling has been reported. In 2025 Scale AI sued Mercor and a former Scale employee over alleged trade-secret misuse, which Mercor's co-founder denied. These are allegations, not findings.
Is Mercor worth considering?
It pays real people and has real customers, and it publishes more about its payment rules than most competitors. Against that, work can end abruptly, rates differ project to project, and the 2026 breach shows the cost of handing over identity documents and interview recordings. If you apply, share only what is required, keep your own record of hours, and read the Mercor review and platforms compared before you decide.
Frequently asked questions
What is Mercor in simple terms?
A San Francisco company, founded in 2023, that connects vetted professionals with AI developers who need expert human input to train and test models. It began as an AI-interview hiring marketplace and later pivoted to AI training work.
What does Mercor actually do?
It matches experts, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers and tutors, to project-based contract work like writing grading rubrics, scoring model answers and writing hard test prompts. Press reports say it earns an hourly matching fee on the work its experts do.
Does Mercor actually pay?
Yes, according to its docs and most reviewers. Mercor says it pays hourly contractors every Wednesday for the previous work week, and Trustpilot reviewers on its main listing mostly describe on-time payments. Projects can end quickly, though, so pay depends on having active work. Our Mercor review covers the payment rules, including the seven-day hold on a first payout.
Has anyone gotten a job through Mercor?
Yes. Mercor says it has nearly five million registered experts and around 30,000 actively working, both company figures, and its home page shows "recently hired" counts beside its latest roles. Business Insider reported that more than 5,000 people worked on one large project at its peak. Being registered or accepted does not guarantee tasks, and some reviewers say they were accepted but given none.
Is Mercor jobs legit?
Mercor's jobs are real contract work with a documented weekly payment process, and the company is real, well-funded and covered by major outlets. Independent reporting also documents contractor complaints about abrupt project endings and falling rates, a 2026 data breach, and lawsuits that are allegations, not rulings. Our Mercor review covers pay and payment in detail.
What is a Mercor interview like?
For many roles it is an AI interview: an AI interviewer asks role-specific questions, usually for about 20 minutes, and creates a transcript that is evaluated for the listing. Some interviews are technical and others test language or reasoning, and it is recorded. Mercor offers a free practice interview and allows up to three retakes of an official one. See the Mercor review for the full rules and preparation tips.
Can I make money on Mercor?
Possibly, but it is not guaranteed. Pay is hourly and rates differ by project, hours are capped by your contract, and projects can pause or end. Treat it as project-based income and read the Mercor review before you decide.
How much can you earn on Mercor?
It depends on the project rate and your weekly hour cap, and Mercor publishes no total. Its home page shows a $112 an hour average contracted rate, which is its own figure. Business Insider reported about $21 an hour for the Musen project and $16 for its replacement, and said some workers earned up to $60 an hour on other projects.
Why does Mercor pay so high?
Mercor does not explain its rates on the pages we read. What is documented is that AI labs and companies pay Mercor for expert work, and that it charges an hourly finder's fee and matching rate, according to TechCrunch. Its experts are professionals such as physicians, lawyers, engineers and consultants. The headline average is not what every project pays: Business Insider reported $16 to $21 an hour on one large project.
Who founded Mercor?
Brendan Foody (CEO), Adarsh Hiremath (CTO) and Surya Midha. All three are Thiel Fellows who attended Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose and left Harvard and Georgetown. KTVU, citing Forbes, reported in November 2025 that at 22 they were the youngest self-made billionaires on Forbes' list.
Did Mercor have a data breach?
Yes. Mercor confirmed it was affected by a supply-chain attack on LiteLLM in late March 2026. It says a "very limited subset" of its nearly five million registered experts had sensitive information affected and that it found no evidence of fraudulent use. A hacking group claimed to have stolen far more, which Mercor has not confirmed.
Is Mercor owned by anyone I should know about?
It is privately held and backed by Benchmark, Felicis, General Catalyst, Menlo Ventures and others, according to Mercor's own newsroom.
How many people work for Mercor?
Mercor says it has nearly five million registered, vetted experts. Its homepage and October 2025 announcement give around 30,000 as the number actively working. Those are different measures, and both are the company's figures.
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Related guides
Sources and method
- Mercor newsroom, blog posts (27 October 2025, 3 March 2026, 25 June 2026, 9 July 2026) and talent help center, read 16 October 2026.
- CNBC and TechCrunch, 27 October 2025; Business Insider, 12 November 2025; KTVU, 4 November 2025.
- The Verge / New York Magazine, 10 March 2026; Fortune, 2 April and 9 July 2026; TechCrunch, 9 April and 9 July 2026; HR Dive, 13 April 2026; Gazetteer SF, 14 October 2026.
- Harvard Crimson, 27 March 2024; Fortune, 16 August 2025.
We could not open Forbes and Wired directly, so claims that come from them are marked as reported through other outlets. We re-check this page when we update it. If something here is out of date, tell us.