Mercor quintuples valuation to $10B with $350M Series C

killerwhich connects AI labs with domain experts to train them on foundational AI models, has raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.

Felicis Ventures, which previously led the company $100 million Series B A $2 billion valuation, also leading this round. Existing investors Benchmark and General Catalyst and new investor Robinhood Ventures also participated.

TechCrunch reported this in September Mercor was in talks with investors to raise a Series C worth $10 billionup from his target of $8 billion a few months ago. The company told potential investors at the time that it already had multiple offers.

Mercor started as an AI-powered recruiting platform, but quickly moved into providing companies with specialized domain experts — such as scientists, doctors and lawyers — to train AI models and charging hourly finder fees and matching rates for their work.

The company is adding more software infrastructure for reinforcement learning — a training method where a model or agent’s decisions are verified or challenged, enabling it to incorporate feedback and improve over time. The company ultimately wants to create an AI-powered recruitment marketplace.

Marker’s fortunes rose after leading AI labs like OpenAI and Google DeepMind Break ties with data-labeling startup Scale AI After investing meta $14 billion In the information vendor and appoint its chief executive officer.

The company apparently told investors it was on track to hit $500 million ARR faster than Anisphere, the startup behind Cursor, which famously hit the milestone about a year after launching its original product.

“Since we founded Mercor nearly three years ago, AI has advanced at an amazing pace. But it still struggles with the nuances that drive economically valuable work — balancing trade-offs, understanding intent, developing tastes, and deciding what to do, not just what to do,” the company wrote in a blog post emailed to TechCru.

The startup says it currently pays its contractors more than $1.5 million per day. It has more than 30,000 experts on its roster, who pay it an average of more than $85 an hour.

Mercor said it will focus on three areas: expanding its talent network, improving its systems to match its contractors with clients, and developing new products to automate more of its processes.