Mercor, a fast-growing artificial-intelligence staffing and data-labeling firm, raised $350 million in a Series C led by Felicis, valuing the company at $10 billion—five times its price tag from February. The Thiel Fellow–founded startup said it will expand its expert network, improve matching systems for AI training work, and speed project delivery. Mercor now manages more than 30,000 contractors and pays out over $1.5 million daily, a business that benefited after Meta took a 49% stake in rival Scale AI, prompting neutrality concerns and defections by some large labs. Competition remains brisk as Surge AI, Turing AI, and Invisible Technologies jostle for enterprise budgets, even as investors Benchmark, General Catalyst, and Robinhood Ventures back Mercor’s push to scale.
Related articles:
— Scale AI
— Meta Platforms
— OpenAI
— Benchmark (venture capital firm)
— General Catalyst
