Two 22-year-old Indian-origin entrepreneurs have made global headlines by becoming the youngest self-made billionaires ever; surpassing Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s long-standing record.
The duo, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, along with their co-founder Brendan Foody, reached billionaire status after their San Francisco-based startup Mercor, an artificial intelligence recruitment platform, hit a $10 billion valuation following a $350 million Series C funding round led by Felicis Ventures.
Hiremath serves as Chief Technology Officer, Midha as Chairman, and Foody as Chief Executive Officer of the company; each owning about 22% equity.
In a statement, CEO Brendan Foody announced, “We’re thrilled to share that Mercor has raised $350 million in Series C funding, led by Felicis with participation from Benchmark, General Catalyst, and Robinhood Ventures. This round values Mercor at $10 billion; five times our Series B valuation.”
Founded in 2023, Mercor aims to revolutionize global hiring by using AI to match top talent with AI-driven enterprises.
“Our mission is simple; to unlock human potential by connecting the world’s experts with the AI labs and enterprises shaping the AI economy,” the company shared on LinkedIn.
Starting from their dorm rooms at Harvard and Georgetown, the trio bootstrapped Mercor to achieve seven-figure annual recurring revenue and built a global user base of over 100,000 professionals across 25 countries.
Mercor’s AI-powered platform analyzes resumes, GitHub profiles, and personal websites to create detailed applicant profiles. Its AI interviewers conduct automated yet intelligent interviews to find the perfect candidates.
Today, Mercor manages over 30,000 contractors, collectively earning more than $1.5 million daily, as the startup continues to train AI systems to think “more like humans” by integrating human context and experience into machine learning processes.
With this record-breaking success, Hiremath and Midha have etched their names in history — not just as tech innovators, but as the youngest billionaires to redefine how the AI-driven job market operates.