Mercor, an AI recruiting startup founded by 21-year-olds, raises $100M at $2B valuation

Mercor, an AI recruiting startup, raised $100M valuing it at $2B.

: AI recruiting startup Mercor, founded by young Thiel Fellows, secured $100 million in Series B funding, leading to a $2 billion valuation. Backed by notable investors like Peter Thiel, the platform uses AI to streamline hiring processes, offering services like resume screening and interview automation. The platform has shown impressive growth, with a current $75 million ARR. As Mercor adapts to the evolving job market, it emphasizes the importance of specialized skill over tenure.

Mercor, an AI-based recruiting platform founded by three 21-year-olds and Thiel Fellows, has successfully raised $100 million in a Series B funding round. This funding was led by Felicis, resulting in an impressive $2 billion valuation, significantly higher than its previous $250 million valuation during its Series A.

The company leverages artificial intelligence to streamline hiring by automating processes such as resume screening, candidate matching, and interviews. It aims to eliminate bias in hiring, although its claims about AI being less biased are up for debate, and it already partners with major AI labs including OpenAI.

Mercor's business model relies on charging finders' fees, and the platform has rapidly grown, estimating $75 million in annual revenue. Its expansion efforts focus on diverse professions and global talent pools, and the founders advocate for changing work patterns towards more specialized, gig-like models, suggesting that humans will be crucial even as AI automates a large portion of the economy.