Three 22-Year-Old Friends Become World's Youngest Self-Made Billionaires with AI Recruiting Platform Mercor

Record-Breaking Achievement

Three 22-year-old childhood friends from Silicon Valley have shattered entrepreneurial records by becoming the world's youngest self-made billionaires, surpassing Mark Zuckerberg's previous milestone achieved at age 23. Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha co-founded Mercor, an AI recruiting platform that recently secured $350 million in Series C funding, propelling the company's valuation to $10 billion 1

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Source: Digit

The funding round was led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from prominent investors including Benchmark, General Catalyst, and Robinhood Ventures. With each founder holding approximately 22% equity in the company, their individual net worth now exceeds $2 billion 2

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The Founders' Journey

The trio's entrepreneurial journey began at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, where they bonded over late-night debates and shared curiosity about the future of work. Hiremath, whose parents hail from Karnataka, and Midha, whose family is from New Delhi, met at age 10 through elementary school debate tournaments before connecting with Foody in high school .

Source: ET

After high school, they pursued education at prestigious universities: Foody studied economics at Georgetown, Hiremath pursued computer science at Harvard, and Midha focused on foreign service at Georgetown. However, all three are recipients of the Thiel Fellowship, a program that provides $100,000 grants to young entrepreneurs who choose to leave college and build companies full-time .

Mercor's Business Model

Founded in 2023 while the founders were still undergraduates, Mercor initially operated as a freelance marketplace connecting skilled software developers in India with U.S. startups seeking remote support. As artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT gained prominence, the company pivoted to become an AI-driven recruiting system that automates hiring and connects global talent for specialized "human-in-the-loop" tasks .

Source: VnExpress

Unlike most AI startups focused on building algorithms, Mercor found success by concentrating on the humans behind the machine. The platform connects skilled individuals including engineers, doctors, analysts, and content specialists with AI labs and companies that need help training their models. The company reportedly pays over $1.5 million daily to contractors worldwide who train AI systems for tech giants and startups 3

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Rapid Growth and Market Position

Mercor's growth trajectory has been meteoric. The company now supports a network of more than 30,000 professionals across industries including law, finance, medicine, and engineering. Its services are utilized by major AI players including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and several of the "Magnificent Seven" tech giants .

By mid-2024, the company's annualized revenue soared to $500 million, up from $100 million earlier in the year. The rapid funding rounds, including a $32 million Series A in September 2024 and a $100 million Series B in February 2025, quickly boosted its valuation to $2 billion, earning it recognition as Silicon Valley's fastest-growing startup .

The company operates with a compact team of about 30 employees, most in their early twenties, demonstrating remarkable efficiency in its operations .