Mercor raises $750 million at $20 billion on a tasker network paying $2 to $10 an hour
Nvidia, Salesforce and Zoom joined a $750 million round that doubled the AI-training network's valuation to $20 billion. What the mark rests on: a five-million-expert network whose floor pays $2 to $10 an hour, in the week a rival labeler liquidated.
Vincent Jiangtwo-minute read
The same week Mercor's~$2B — Mercor, private, latest valuation ~$2B three 23-year-old founders doubled their fortunes, a tasker posted an instant offer from the company on its own subreddit: $2 an hour 1. "Are you guys going out of business or something?" the post asked, drawing 153 replies 1. Mercor was not going out of business. On November 10 it announced a $750 million Series D at a $20 billion valuation 2.
A $2 offer and a $4.2 billion stake, one week apart
Forbes estimates CEO Brendan Foody, CTO Adarsh Hiremath and board chairman Surya Midha are each worth $4.2 billion on 21% stakes, up from $2.2 billion at the October 2025 round 3. The Series D named no lead. Nvidia−5.72% — Nvidia, down 5.72 percent today, Salesforce+1.95% — Salesforce, up 1.95 percent today and Zoom+7.65% — Zoom, up 7.65 percent today, plus StepStone and funds tied to Apollo, joined returners Benchmark, Felicis and General Catalyst, and the round carried an employee tender whose split with fresh capital the company has not disclosed 2.
Holders of Nvidia, Salesforce and Zoom shares now have corporate money in the agent-evaluation layer at twice the October 2025 price 2. Foody took the round to CNBC's Squawk Box the day it landed 4.
What the $20 billion rests on
Foody says gross annualized revenue has climbed from $1 million to $3 billion in just over two years, with $250 million of gross sales in the latest month and more than 100 customers 3. The Information reported in July that Mercor pays 60% to 70% of gross revenue to contractors; on Foody's figure that implies $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion a year reaching taskers, arithmetic on two reported numbers rather than a company disclosure 3.
The floor pays piecework: the same week, a Colombian jobs board carried a $10-an-hour, two-week Mercor gig testing a Spanish-language customer-service agent 5. The company counts more than 5 million experts in its network 6 and said it was actively managing 30,000 contractors as of October 2025 7. Forbes put the whole company at $250 million as recently as January 2025 8.
Mercor went from a $250 million estimate to a $20 billion mark in 22 months
The Series D doubles the October 2025 mark and sits 80 times the January 2025 estimate
Data
| Valuation | |
|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | $0.25B |
| Oct 2025 | $10B |
| Nov 2026 | $20B |
The other labeler went into liquidation
Sama, which labeled data for Meta−2.63% — Meta, down 2.63 percent today and OpenAI$1.18T — OpenAI, private, latest valuation $1.18T, told creditors on November 6 it was liquidating with about $1 million in assets against $17 million of liabilities, blaming competition and class-action litigation 9. Scale AI$29B — Scale AI, private, latest valuation $29B, at about $29 billion, and Surge AI$1B — Surge AI, private, latest valuation $1B, at an estimated $24 billion, still outrank Mercor 3. Watch the undisclosed split of the $750 million between tender and new money, and whether enterprise evaluations rather than frontier-lab data deals carry the next mark 3. One week split the human-data business into a $20 billion valuation and a $17 million grave 3.
Get Deals by email, free
The acquisitions, rounds and contracts that move AI money. In our daily email, every weekday.
