How Mercor is Bridging the Gap between Labor Markets and AI Research

Mercor, a platform powering AI Research led by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha, has secured $350 million Series C funding, led by Felicis with participation from Benchmark, General Catalyst, and Robinhood Ventures, and values Mercor at $10 billion, 5x its Series B valuation.

Despite rapid advances in AI over the past three years, it still falters on the nuances that define meaningful work: judgment, intent, taste, and prioritization. This is the space where Mercor operates, translating human expertise into intelligence that understands not just how to act, but why.

Mercor operates at the intersection of labor and intelligence, connecting human expertise with the frontier AI labs and enterprises powering the global AI economy.

Its network of professionals trains frontier models much like teachers guide students, transferring knowledge, experience, and intuition that can’t be written in code. Each collaboration expands what AI understands and amplifies what people can achieve.

From doctors refining diagnostic models, to bankers shaping analytical agents, to lawyers improving reasoning through precedent, every expert contribution pushes the boundaries of human and machine progress together.

Over the next decade, millions will train machines in the judgment, nuance, and taste that define human expertise. Rather than repeating predictable tasks, they’ll teach agents to perform them autonomously, once learned, done a million times.

Across industries, enterprise workflows are being codified into evaluations that models can absorb and refine. As a result, human experts are moving higher up the value chain, offloading routine work to AI and focusing on the complex, high-value problems that still demand human intelligence.

The investment accelerates progress across three core areas: expanding our global talent network, improving precision in matching experts to projects, and enabling faster, higher-quality delivery.

This positions Mercor to define a new category of work, where human and artificial intelligence collaborate to create greater economic value.