---
title: "Mercor raises $750 million at $20 billion on a tasker network paying $2 to $10 an hour"
description: "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."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Deals"
published: 2026-11-11T15:06:27.226Z
modified: 2026-11-11T15:06:27.226Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/mercor-raises-750-million-at-20-billion-on-a-tasker-network-paying-2-to-10-an-hour
language: en
keywords: "Funding, AI Training Data, Valuation, Startups, Gig Economy"
---

# 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.

The same week [Mercor](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/mercor)'s three 23-year-old founders doubled their fortunes, a tasker posted an instant offer from the company on its own subreddit: [$2 an hour](https://old.reddit.com/r/mercor_ai/comments/1xq8nao/seriously_2hr_lol/) [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](https://siliconangle.com/2026/11/10/mercor-raises-750m-at-20b-valuation-to-take-ai-agent-evaluation-to-enterprises/) [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](https://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciapark/2026/11/10/the-worlds-youngest-self-made-billionaires-just-doubled-their-fortunes/), up from $2.2 billion at the October 2025 round [3]. The Series D named no lead. [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia), [Salesforce](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/salesforce) and [Zoom](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/zoom), 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](https://www.mercor.com/blog/series-d/) [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].

*Chart: **Mercor went from a $250 million estimate to a $20 billion mark in 22 months** Column chart of Mercor's valuation at three marks: $0.25 billion in January 2025, $10 billion in October 2025, $20 billion in November 2026*

*Valuation at each disclosed or estimated mark. Forbes company profile (January 2025); SiliconANGLE (October 2025 Series C; November 10, 2026 Series D). [2][8]*

## The other labeler went into liquidation

Sama, which labeled data for [Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta) and [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai), [told creditors on November 6 it was liquidating](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/exclusive-former-meta-and-openai-contractor-sama-liquidates-citing-lawsuits/ar-AA2h5QyP) with about $1 million in assets against $17 million of liabilities, blaming competition and class-action litigation [9]. [Scale AI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/scale-ai), at about $29 billion, and [Surge AI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/surge-ai), 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].

## Takeaway

Mercor's $750 million Series D doubles its valuation to $20 billion on a revenue stream that pays its contractors a $2 to $10 an hour floor, in the same week rival labeler Sama liquidated.

## Sources

1. [Reddit r/mercor_ai, "Seriously? $2/hr? LOL", collected 11 November 2026](https://old.reddit.com/r/mercor_ai/comments/1xq8nao/seriously_2hr_lol/)
2. [SiliconANGLE, Duncan Riley, "Mercor raises $750M at $20B valuation to take AI agent evaluation to enterprises", 10 November 2026](https://siliconangle.com/2026/11/10/mercor-raises-750m-at-20b-valuation-to-take-ai-agent-evaluation-to-enterprises/)
3. [Forbes, Alicia Park, "The World's Youngest Self-Made Billionaires Just Doubled Their Fortunes", 10 November 2026](https://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciapark/2026/11/10/the-worlds-youngest-self-made-billionaires-just-doubled-their-fortunes/)
4. [CNBC (via MSN), "Mercor CEO Brendan Foody: Latest $750M funding will accelerate the enterprise business", 10 November 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/mercor-ceo-brendan-foody-latest-750m-funding-will-accelerate-the-enterprise-business/vi-AA2h8cTn)
5. [Reddit r/ColombiaTrabajo, "Trabajo remoto para colombianos | $10 USD/hora", collected 7 November 2026](https://old.reddit.com/r/ColombiaTrabajo/comments/1xolm6l/trabajo_remoto_para_colombianos_10_usdhora/)
6. [Mercor blog, Brendan Foody, "Organizing human intelligence for the entire economy", 10 November 2026](https://www.mercor.com/blog/series-d/)
7. [Wikipedia, "Mercor", last edited 6 October 2026](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercor)
8. [Forbes company profile, "Mercor", last updated 1 January 2025](https://www.forbes.com/profile/mercor/)
9. [Time (via MSN), Billy Perrigo, "Exclusive: Former Meta and OpenAI Contractor Sama Liquidates, Citing Lawsuits", 9 November 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/exclusive-former-meta-and-openai-contractor-sama-liquidates-citing-lawsuits/ar-AA2h5QyP)


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Mercor raises $750 million at $20 billion on a tasker network paying $2 to $10 an hour — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/mercor-raises-750-million-at-20-billion-on-a-tasker-network-paying-2-to-10-an-hour