Mercor Secures $350 Million at a Valuation of $10 Billion Mercor, a company that connects AI labs with domain experts to train their foundational AI models, has successfully raised $350 million at a valuation of $10 billion, as confirmed by the company to DailyTech. Leading the funding round is Felicis Ventures, who also led Mercor's previous Series B round of $100 million at a $2 billion valuation. Benchmark, General Catalyst, and new investor Robinhood Ventures also participated in this latest round of funding. DailyTech had previously reported in September that Mercor was in discussions with investors to raise a Series C round at a $10 billion valuation, surpassing its initial target of $8 billion. The company had multiple offers from potential investors at that time. Originally starting as an AI-driven hiring platform, Mercor shifted its focus to providing companies with specialized domain experts for AI model training, such as scientists, doctors, and lawyers. The company charges an hourly finder's fee and matching rate for the experts' work. In addition to its services, Mercor has been enhancing its software infrastructure for reinforcement learning, a training method that allows models to improve over time by incorporating feedback on their decisions. The company plans to develop an AI-powered recruiting marketplace in the future. Mercor's growth trajectory surged after leading AI labs like OpenAI and Google DeepMind reportedly severed ties with data-labeling startup Scale AI following Meta's $14 billion investment in the company. Mercor aims to achieve $500 million in ARR faster than Anysphere, the startup behind Cursor, which hit this milestone approximately a year after launching its core product. Expressing the company's vision, Mercor stated in a blog post shared with DailyTech, "Since we founded Mercor almost three years ago, AI has advanced at an astonishing pace. But it still struggles with the subtleties that drive economically valuable work—balancing trade-offs, understanding intent, developing taste, and deciding what should be done, not just what can be done." Currently, Mercor pays over $1.5 million per day to its contractors, with a roster of more than 30,000 experts earning an average of $85 per hour. The company plans to focus on expanding its talent network, enhancing its contractor-client matching systems, and developing new products to automate its processes further.
