The founders, Adarsh Hiremath, Brendan Foody, and Surya Midha, launched Mercor as a side hustle to match Indian engineers with startups needing freelance coding help. The platform now relies on its own large language model to match and place temporary talent, with applicants participating by uploading their resumes and taking a 20-minute video interview with Mercor’s AI. The startup aims to predict and automate longer-term performance reviews, helping employers track and cultivate talent over time.
Key takeaways:
- Mercor, an AI-powered jobs marketplace, has raised $32 million in a Series A funding round led by Benchmark, with participation from Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, and others. The startup is now valued at $250 million.
- The company was founded by three 21-year-old Thiel Fellows, Adarsh Hiremath, Brendan Foody and Surya Midha, who dropped out of college to focus on the business. The platform uses AI to vet and interview job candidates, then match them to open roles.
- Mercor's revenue run rate is already in the tens of millions, growing 50% monthly, and the company is profitable. It has conducted more than 100,000 interviews, evaluating 300,000 people in less than two years.
- The startup aims to solve inefficiencies in the hiring process, particularly for talented individuals in developing countries who may not have access to opportunities. It plans to eventually predict and automate longer-term performance reviews, helping employers track and cultivate talent over time.