Three co-founders of Mercor, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, have doubled their personal fortunes.
All three are 23 years old. The company raised $750 million in a new funding round, announced on Tuesday.
This pushed its valuation to $20 billion. Valuation is the total value investors place on a company.
In October 2025, the same company was valued at $10 billion.
Two of the three founders, Surya Midha and Adarsh Hiremath, are Indian-Americans.
Midha's parents moved to the US from New Delhi. Both men went to the same school in San Jose, California.
Key points
- Mercor raised $750 million at a $20 billion valuation.
- Each of the three co-founders is estimated to be worth $4.2 billion.
- Founded in 2023, the company started by connecting freelance coders in India with US companies.
- The new money will build an evaluation business for AI models.
So how did a company this young grow so fast?
Mercor started as a recruiting platform. It linked freelance coders in India with companies in the US.
Later, it moved into data labelling.
Data labelling means tagging and sorting information so AI systems can learn from it.
Mercor connects experts, such as doctors and lawyers, with leading AI companies, including OpenAI.
These experts help train advanced AI models.
What does this mean for the founders?
According to the company's valuation, each co-founder holds a 21% stake.
That stake is now estimated at $4.2 billion for each of the three founders.
Graphic: News Anek, from the facts in this report
Their wealth rose from around $2.2 billion in October 2025.
The three also became the world's youngest self-made billionaires at 22, last year.
Midha is the youngest of the three, by about two months.
Hiremath studied computer science at Harvard University for two years before leaving to focus on Mercor.
What comes next for Mercor?
The company said its new funding will help build an evaluation and post-training business.
This business helps other companies check how well their AI models complete tasks. It also helps them improve those models.
For young Indians learning to code, the story shows how global work can open doors from a small start.
The company's next steps will show whether this growth lasts.
Startup Story
The story so far
- The start: Mercor was founded in 2023 as a recruiting platform that connected freelance coders in India with companies in the US.
- The turn: Later it moved into data labelling, linking experts such as doctors and lawyers with leading AI companies, including OpenAI.
- Now: A new funding round of $750 million has pushed its valuation to $20 billion, and the company is building an evaluation business.
How it makes money
Mercor connects skilled experts with AI companies that need help training advanced AI models. The company is now building a new business that helps firms measure how well AI models complete tasks.
One lesson
Finding a real need, such as skilled people for AI companies, can help a young business grow quickly if it keeps expanding its services.
The numbers
| Funding round | $750 million (Source: Company announcement) |
|---|---|
| Company valuation | $20 billion (Source: Company announcement) |
| Estimated wealth of each of three co-founders | $4.2 billion (Source: Wealth estimate) |
This is general information from news reports, not financial or investment advice.
