Mercor, an AI recruiting startup founded by three 21-year-old Thiel Fellows, has secured $100 million in a Series B funding round. This latest investment values the two-year-old startup at $2 billion. Menlo Park-based Felicis led the round, with participation from existing investors Benchmark, General Catalyst, DST Global, and Menlo Ventures.
Founded in 2023, Mercor uses artificial intelligence to streamline the hiring process. The platform automates tasks such as resume screening, candidate matching, AI-powered interviews, and payroll management. Employers upload job descriptions, which Mercor’s AI system uses to recommend the best candidates.
The startup claims its automated system not only streamlines hiring but also reduces bias. However, this is a topic of ongoing debate. Notable backers of Mercor include tech industry heavyweights Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, and Adam D’Angelo.
Mercor states the recent funding will accelerate their mission to “match billions of people with their calling, applying human talent to its highest potential.” CEO John Foody said, “We collect performance data on candidates and use it to refine our predictions on who will perform best in the future.”
Initially focused on hiring tech professionals, Mercor has expanded to meet the rising demand for a diverse range of professionals.
Mercor’s rapid growth attracts investors
The platform now helps HR teams evaluate over 468,000 applicants, with India being its largest talent source, followed by the U.S., while Europe and South America are experiencing rapid growth.
Mercor’s revenue has surged as companies adopt more flexible work models. By charging hourly finders’ fees, Mercor’s annual revenue run rate has grown to $75 million, with most of its revenue coming from AI labs. The company now collaborates with the world’s top five AI labs, including OpenAI.
Aside from hiring bias, another significant concern surrounding Mercor’s technology is its potential to accelerate job displacement as AI advances. Foody argues that rather than displacing workers, Mercor automates large parts of the economy, thereby making human workers more valuable in areas where they are still needed. Foody explained, “If AI automates 90% of the economy, then humans become the bottleneck for the remaining 10%.
So there’s 10x leverage on every unit of economic output that humans contribute because the rest has been automated. That means the way people work is changing as we move toward a more fractional, gig-like work model.”
Mercor aims to remain relevant in the long run as more companies prioritize expertise over tenure and hire specialists for short-term projects rather than full-time staff. “I think work becomes more efficient through smarter job matching,” said Foody.
“Every project should be handled by the best person for the job, not just whoever is available on staff.”
In its own hiring efforts, Mercor, with an average team age of 22, recently added the former head of Human Data Operations at OpenAI and the previous head of Growth at Scale to its team.
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