Mercor is a San‑Francisco–based startup that runs an AI‑driven talent marketplace: companies building frontier models use it to source, screen (via automated AI interviews), and pay domain experts and engineers for contract or full‑time work. Beyond traditional recruiting, Mercor supplies specialists—doctors, lawyers, scientists, and software/AI engineers—to help train and evaluate AI systems for top labs (TechCrunch reports OpenAI is among its users), charging an hourly finder’s fee. Founded in 2023 by Thiel Fellows Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha, the company raised a $100M Series B in February 2025 at a ~$2B valuation, following a $30M Series A in September 2024.
