Mercor Secures $350M Series C, Skyrocketing to $10B Valuation in AI Expert Marketplace

Mercor quintuples valuation to $10B with $350M Series C | TechCrunch

Mercor, which connects AI labs with domain experts for training their foundational AI models, has raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Felicis Ventures, which led the company's previous $100 million Series B at a $2 billion valuation, is also leading this round. Existing investors Benchmark and General Catalyst, and new investor Robinhood Ventures also participated. TechCrunch reported in September that Mercor was in talks with investors to raise a Series C at a valuation of $10 billion, up from its target of $8 billion a few months prior. The company at the time told potential investors that it already had multiple offers. Mercor started off as an AI-driven hiring platform, but quickly pivoted to providing companies with specialized domain experts to perform AI model training -- such as scientists, doctors, and lawyers -- and charging an hourly finder's fee and matching rate for their work. The company has also been adding more software infrastructure for reinforcement learning -- a training method where a model's or agent's decisions are verified or disputed, enabling it to incorporate feedback and improve over time. The company intends to eventually build an AI-powered recruiting marketplace. Mercor's fortunes rose after leading AI labs like OpenAI and Google DeepMind reportedly cut ties with data-labeling startup Scale AI after Meta invested $14 billion in the data vendor and hired its CEO. The company apparently told investors that it's on track to hit $500 million in ARR faster than Anysphere, the startup behind Cursor, which famously hit the milestone roughly a year after launching its core product. "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," the company wrote in a blog post emailed to TechCrunch. The startup says it currently pays more than $1.5 million per day to its contractors. It has more than 30,000 experts on its roster, who it pays over $85 per hour on average. Mercor said it will focus on three areas: expanding its talent network, improving its systems for matching its contractors with clients, and building new products to automate more of its processes.

AI startup Mercor now valued at $10 billion with new $350 million funding round

The company was able to take advantage of the pivot to data-labeling after Meta paid landed a 49% stake in Scale AI in June, effectively eliminating a competitor. Artificial intelligence startup Mercor announced on Monday a new Series C round that values the company at $10 billion, a fivefold increase since its last raise in February. The company said in a blog post that it raised $350 million in a round led by Felicis, which also led its $100 million Series B round, with participation from Benchmark, General Catalyst, and new investor Robinhood Ventures. The new investment will feed into three focus areas: Expanding the company's talent network, advancing its matching systems between experts and training opportunities, and providing faster delivery. Founded in by three Thiel Fellows, the company initially started as a hiring company that assessed candidates by analyzing interview transcripts, resumes and personal portfolio websites to make recruiting decisions. After inadvertently amassing a network of specialized experts, the startup has pivoted to hiring highly skilled professionals to train AI models.