Their company, Mercor, is now valued at $10 billion, making 22-year-olds Midha and Hiremath the youngest self-made billionaires globally. Mercor isn't just a business success; it's reshaping how companies hire talent in the AI era.

Surpassing Previous Young Billionaires

Mercor's founders have overtaken other young tech billionaires. They surpassed Shayne Coplan of Polymarket, who became a billionaire at 27, and Alexandr Wang of Scale AI, who achieved the milestone at 28. Surya Midha, the board chairman, is slightly younger than his cofounders, born in June. At 22, all three were younger than Mark Zuckerberg when he became a billionaire. Mercor's recent $350 million funding round, led by Felicis Ventures and supported by Benchmark, General Catalyst, and Robinhood Ventures, values the company at $10 billion, with each founder holding roughly 22% of the business.

Early Tech Exposure and Partnerships

All three founders grew up around technology. Foody's parents were software engineers-his mother at Meta and his father ran a graphics company-and he started a small venture at 16 helping friends get promotions on AWS. Hiremath and Midha have been friends since age 10, competing in debate tournaments, and later connected with Foody in high school. Hiremath studied labor markets at Harvard and conducted research for Larry Summers, who subsequently invested in Mercor.

From India to Silicon Valley

Mercor began with a simple insight: traditional hiring methods are outdated. For years, breaking into tech meant a prestigious degree and the right connections. Midha and Hiremath identified the gaps in this system. The platform initially connected Indian engineers with US companies seeking freelance coders, allowing candidates to interview with AI avatars. This eventually led to high-demand AI roles, including data labeling for labs like OpenAI. Mercor's rapid growth earned it a place on Forbes 2025 Under 30 and the Forbes Cloud 100 list. By October 2025, Mercor reported an annualized revenue run rate of $500 million, up from $100 million in March.

Leveraging AI for Smarter Hiring

Mercor is an AI-driven talent marketplace. Instead of traditional HR teams sorting through resumes, the platform uses algorithms to identify and evaluate top candidates efficiently. Its AI predicts performance in high-pressure tech roles and reduces hiring timelines from months to hours, offering a faster and more accurate approach than conventional recruitment.

Recognition and Thiel Fellowship

Even in Silicon Valley, known for its young innovators, Mercor stands out. All three founders are Thiel Fellows, receiving $100,000 each from Peter Thiel's program for young entrepreneurs who skip college to build companies. This support, combined with their innovative approach to AI-driven recruitment, has helped Mercor disrupt the traditional talent market.