Mercor Secures $350M to Scale Its AI-Powered Talent and Training Marketplace

Mercor has raised $350 million in a Series C round at a $10 billion valuation , led by Felicis Ventures with participation from Benchmark , General Catalyst , and Robinhood Ventures . The round marks a major milestone for the company, which has evolved from an AI hiring startup into a critical player in the infrastructure powering how AI models are trained.

Mercor connects AI labs with domain experts — professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and scientists — who provide human input to refine and validate AI systems. The company charges hourly fees and matching rates for this work, creating a scalable and flexible model for “human-in-the-loop” AI development.

The funding arrives amid a surge in demand for more precise and context-aware training data . To meet that need, Mercor has been building advanced reinforcement learning infrastructure , enabling AI systems to learn through structured human feedback. The company’s long-term ambition is to create an AI-powered recruiting marketplace that combines automation with expert oversight, allowing organizations to source and manage specialized talent for AI training at scale.

Mercor’s growth has also been fueled by industry shifts, including reports that OpenAI and DeepMind ended partnerships with Scale AI , creating new opportunities for competitors in the data-labeling space. With over 30,000 experts in its network , paying out more than $1.5 million daily to contractors , Mercor is positioning itself as the next go-to provider for high-quality, domain-specific AI training.

The company says it’s on track to reach $500 million in annual recurring revenue , potentially outpacing peers like Anysphere , the company behind Cursor. With this new funding, Mercor plans to expand its global expert network , enhance its matching algorithms , and automate more of its workflow , strengthening its role as a foundational layer in the emerging AI labor economy.

Source:
TechCrunch

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