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Mercor

Marketplace matching AI labs with pre-vetted domain experts for RLHF, data labeling, and model training
Mercor is a marketplace that connects frontier AI labs including OpenAI and Meta with pre-vetted domain experts for reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), data labeling, and foundation-model training. Founded by Thiel Fellows Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha, the company quintupled its valuation in eight months, closing a $350M Series C led by Felicis at a $10B valuation in October 2025 with Benchmark, General Catalyst, and Robinhood Ventures participating. Mercor reached an ~$450M ARR run-rate by September 2025 and is reported by Sacra to have hit $1B revenue in 2026.
AI 📍 San Francisco, CA Founded 2023
Current Valuation
$10B
as of 2025-Q4
DECACORN

QL Price

$19B
-3% vs last round
QuantLogix's current estimate for Mercor, published 2026-10-08 — in line with the last disclosed round of $20B (2026-08).
Confidence
high
Basis
blended
What backs this price
Last disclosed round $20B 2026-08 weight 0.88
Secondary market print $21B 2026-06-27 weight 0.54
Public-company comparables $14B 2026 weight 0.27
How this price has held up
No round has priced for Mercor since QuantLogix began publishing a price for it, so there is nothing to grade yet. The claim above is on the record from 2026-10-08 and will be graded against the next priced round. See the full accuracy record →
How to actually get exposure to Mercor →
Which publicly-traded funds already hold it, what $10,000 buys, and whether any route is open to you.
Cite this price as QuantLogix QL Price, Mercor, 2026-10-08 (55cef45ba6487b59). The id pins this exact claim, so a citation stays checkable after the price moves. Model estimate for research — not a quote, target price, or investment advice.

IPO Outlookprivate

Is Mercor going public?
No. Mercor is private and has not filed to go public. There is no S-1 on file.
What is Mercor's valuation in 2026?
Mercor is valued at $10B as of 2025-Q4, set by its Series C ($350M, Oct 2025). That is the last confirmed mark, not a live price — private shares do not trade continuously.
Has Mercor filed an S-1?
No public S-1 is on file for Mercor.
Who are Mercor's investors?
Mercor's investors include Felicis, Benchmark, General Catalyst, Robinhood Ventures, Thrive Capital, Peter Thiel (via Thiel Fellowship).
Is Mercor publicly traded — can you buy Mercor stock?
No. Mercor is a private company — its shares are not listed on any exchange and there is no ticker. The routes to exposure are pre-IPO secondary marketplaces and funds (accredited investors), employee tender offers when the company runs one, and public companies with read-through exposure. QuantLogix maps every route it can verify for Mercor on its Pre-IPO Access Desk.
How to actually get exposure to Mercor →
Answers are derived from the roster record shown on this page — filing status, last round and confirmed marks. Where the record is silent, the answer says so rather than guessing.

Company Profile

CEO
Brendan Foody
Founded
2023
HQ
San Francisco, CA
Est. Revenue
$1.0B (2026)
Growth
+897% YoY revenue growth; ARR reached ~$450M run-rate in Sept 2025 and $1B by 2026
Last Round
Series C — $350M (Oct 2025) · Lead: Felicis
IPO Status
private

Fundraising Status

Series C · $350M · 1y ago
private

Secondary Market

Implied price / share
$746.62
Last round price / share
$713.77
vs last round
+4.6%
Open interest
6
Last round price vs secondary price
Last round vs current secondary price per share$714Last round$747Current
Secondary price return by period
Secondary market period returns3-month+4.4%6-month+7.2%1-year+424%All-time+730%
Implied per-share price from private secondary transactions, as of Jun 2026. This is a point estimate, not a quote — the feed carries no bid, ask or spread, and a secondary print is evidence of what someone paid on that date rather than a live market. Compare across every tracked name →

Latest Funding Round

RoundAmountDateLead InvestorPost-Money
Series C$350MOct 2025Felicis—

Vertical Intelligence — AI / ML

Open models
2
Downloads (30d)
196
across all models
Followers
145
Top model
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-Mercor
148 downloads / 30d
Attributed to Hugging Face organization "Mercor" as of 2026-10-04. Open-weights footprint only — closed-model usage is not publicly measurable. Verify on Hugging Face ↗

Talent Signal

Hiring trend
▲ Hiring uptrend
+21% vs 2026-08
Open roles
103
via ashby
Product-build share
51%
engineering, research, product, design
Trajectory
expanding
product-led hiring — 51% of open roles build product; the rest are go-to-market and G&A.
No tracked executive churn; open roles trending up.
Open roles by month
Open roles by month85Aug '26103Sep '26
Open roles by function
Open roles by functionEngineering21Other20Research15Ops & People15Sales & GTM9Product6Data & ML5Marketing5Design3
■ product-building   ■ go-to-market / G&A
Infrastructure Engineer Data ScientistSoftware Engineer, AgentsProduct ManagerResearch Operations, CodeData Engineer
Counted from Mercor's live job board as of 2026-09-15; role functions classified from posting titles. Open-role counts are an activity signal, not headcount. Refreshed monthly.

Founders & Key People

Brendan FoodyAdarsh HiremathSurya Midha

Investors

Felicis · Benchmark · General Catalyst · Robinhood Ventures · Thrive Capital · Peter Thiel (via Thiel Fellowship)

Products

  • Mercor expert marketplace (RLHF + domain-expert hiring for AI labs)
  • Mercor concierge sourcing for OpenAI, Meta, and other frontier labs
  • Pre-vetted contractor network for data labeling and model evaluation

Competitors

Scale AI · Surge AI · Snorkel AI · Toloka · Invisible Technologies · Turing
AIData LabelingGig MarketplaceRLHFThiel FellowsAI Training
Private-company numbers are not real-time. Reflects publicly disclosed valuations from press releases, news reports, and tender offers as of 2025-Q4. Refreshed quarterly.