Mercor just closed a massive $350 million Series C at a $10 billion valuation - quintupling from its $2 billion price tag just eight months ago. The AI talent marketplace is capitalizing on soaring demand as major labs scramble for specialized experts to train their foundational models, positioning itself as the go-to platform in a rapidly consolidating market.
The AI training arms race just got a new heavyweight champion. Mercor confirmed it closed a $350 million Series C at a staggering $10 billion valuation, marking one of the most dramatic jumps in startup history - quintupling from February's $2 billion Series B in just eight months.
Felicis Ventures, which led the previous round, doubled down to lead this massive raise. Existing backers Benchmark and General Catalyst joined the party, along with newcomer Robinhood Ventures. The deal confirms earlier TechCrunch reporting that Mercor was fielding multiple offers at the $10 billion mark, up from an initial $8 billion target.
The timing isn't coincidental. Mercor's meteoric rise coincided with Scale AI's dramatic exit from major AI labs after Meta's $14 billion investment created conflicts of interest. When OpenAI and Google DeepMind suddenly needed new data labeling partners, Mercor was perfectly positioned.
What started as an AI recruiting platform has evolved into something much bigger. Mercor now connects AI labs with specialized domain experts - scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers - who can provide the nuanced training that general-purpose models desperately need. It's not just matching; it's building the infrastructure for reinforcement learning systems that help models incorporate human feedback and improve over time.
The numbers tell the story of explosive growth. Mercor currently pays out more than $1.5 million per day to its contractor network - that's over $500 million annually flowing through the platform. With 30,000+ experts earning an average of $85 per hour, the company has created what might be the world's most valuable professional services marketplace.
"Since we founded Mercor almost three years ago, AI has advanced at an astonishing pace. But it still struggles with the subtleties that drive economically valuable work - balancing trade-offs, understanding intent, developing taste, and deciding what should be done, not just what can be done," the company wrote in a shared with TechCrunch.
