When Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha met in high school in San Jose, California, they were known for their sharp arguments, not startup pitches. Along with their friend Brendan Foody, the two Indian-origin teens from Bellarmine College Preparatory went on to do something no one in their class could’ve imagined – build a company worth $10 billion by the age of 22.
SurveyTheir startup, Mercor, just made the trio the world’s youngest self-made billionaires, overtaking even Mark Zuckerberg, who hit the milestone at 23. Backed by top Silicon Valley investors, the company raised $350 million in its latest funding round, valuing it at ten billion dollars and instantly propelling the founders into billionaire territory.
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But what exactly does Mercor do and how did three college dropouts from California’s Bay Area pull it off?
The startup paying people to train AI
Unlike most AI startups obsessed with building smarter algorithms, Mercor found success by focusing on something else: the humans behind the machine. The company runs a “human-in-the-loop” platform that connects skilled individuals – engineers, doctors, analysts, and even content specialists – with AI labs and companies that need help training their models.
Think of it as Upwork for AI, but on a global scale. Every time an AI model needs human judgment, whether it’s identifying objects in an image or assessing the accuracy of a medical dataset, Mercor steps in to supply vetted human talent. The company reportedly pays over $1.5 million a day to contractors around the world who train AI systems for tech giants and startups alike.
That model has made Mercor the quiet backbone of the AI boom, proving that even in an age of automation, human intelligence is still essential. As one investor put it, “Mercor built the invisible workforce that powers artificial intelligence.”
The youngest billionaires redefining AI’s future
Hiremath, Midha, and Foody were part of the Thiel Fellowship, a program founded by investor Peter Thiel that gives young entrepreneurs $100,000 to skip college and build companies. What started as a small idea about matching coders to AI labs evolved into a full-blown recruitment and data-labeling ecosystem.
Today, Mercor sits at the heart of the AI infrastructure race not by creating models like OpenAI or Anthropic, but by training them. And its founders are clear about what comes next: expanding access so that anyone, anywhere, can earn by helping AI learn.
In a world racing toward automation, Mercor’s billionaires are betting on the one thing AI can’t replace: people.
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Vyom Ramani
A journalist with a soft spot for tech, games, and things that go beep. While waiting for a delayed metro or rebooting his brain, you’ll find him solving Rubik’s Cubes, bingeing F1, or hunting for the next great snack. View Full Profile
