Mercor, a startup that connects companies like OpenAI and Meta with domain experts needed to train and refine their foundational AI models, is in discussions with investors for a Series C round, according to a marketing document viewed by TechCrunch and two sources familiar with the deal talks.
Felicis, a returning investor, is considering doubling down on the company for the Series C, according to two sources. Felicis declined to comment.
The company is currently targeting a valuation of $10 billion or more, one person said. That’s up from an $8 billion target valuation that the company discussed a couple of months ago, one person said. However, terms of the final deal could still change.
The company has told potential investors that it already has multiple offers. VCs have been reaching out to Mercor preemptively with offers valuing the company at as much as $10 billion, the Information previously reported.
TechCrunch also understands that the company has brought on at least two new investors to raise funds for the potential deal through special purpose vehicles (SPVs).
The company’s previous round was announced in February – a $100 million Series B at a $2 billion valuation led by Felicis.
Founded in 2022, Mercor is approaching $450 million in annualized run-rate revenue, one person said. The company told TechCrunch in February that its annual revenue (calculated by multiplying the latest month by 12) had reached $75 million at that time. In March, Mercor CEO Brendan Foody posted on X that ARR was $100 million.
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The company has told investors it is on track to hit the $500 million ARR milestone faster than Anysphere, the startup that makes AI coding assistant Cursor, according to one source familiar with the situation. Anysphere famously hit $500 million in ARR about a year after its product launched. Unlike Anysphere, which is still burning cash, Mercor generated $6 million in profit in the first half of the year, Forbes reported.
Mercor earns revenue by providing companies with specialized domain experts to perform AI model training — such as scientists, doctors, and lawyers — and charging an hourly finder’s fee and matching rate for their work.
The company claims to supply data labeling contractors to five top AI labs, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI, as well as to Tesla and Nvidia. According to sources, an outsized portion of its revenue is coming from a subset of those brands, including OpenAI.
To further diversify its business model, Mercor has been telling investors that it is adding more software infrastructure for reinforcement learning – a training method where a model or agent’s decisions are verified or disputed, enabling it to incorporate feedback and improve over time. The company also intends to eventually build an AI-powered recruiting marketplace.
Still, Mercor faces competition from companies like Surge AI, which is reportedly in talks to raise funding at a $25 billion valuation, as well as from Turing Labs and other data labeling firms like Scale AI that are also expanding into RL services. Some believe that OpenAI’s recently launched hiring platform could lead the AI giant to create its own human-expert-powered RL training service.
When reached for comment, Foody told TechCrunch, “We haven’t been trying to raise at all,” and, “We turn down offers every month.” He also said the company’s ARR is higher than $450 million. However, he clarified that the company’s revenue includes the total amount that customers pay Mercor for services before its contractors receive their portion. He added this is a common accounting practice recommended by audit firms and used by competitors Surge AI and Scale AI.
The startup was co-founded in 2023 by Thiel Fellows and Harvard dropouts Brendan Foody (CEO), Adarsh Hiremath (CTO), and Surya Midha (COO). All three co-founders are still in their early twenties. To take the company to the next level, Mercor recently appointed Sundeep Jain, a former chief product officer at Uber with decades of experience, as its first president, Forbes reported.
Mercor was recently sued by competitor Scale AI for misappropriation of trade secrets. Scale AI alleges that one of its former employees who later joined Mercor “stole more than 100 confidential documents concerning Scale’s customer strategies and other proprietary information,” according to a copy of the lawsuit TechCrunch previously reviewed.
Maxwell Zeff contributed reporting
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![The New ‘Ghostbusters’ Cartoon Gets a Title and Release Date
Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom gets an action figure. Bruce Campbell says Evil Dead has “moved away” from familiar favorites. Two new horror movies explore poodle breeding and the Civil War. They’re here already! You’re next! It’s Morning Spoilers! Brine Deadline reports Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker) and Dave Annable (Lioness) will star in Brine, a “supernatural Civil War thriller” from director B.J. Golnick. Co-starring Jonah Wharton, Sissy Sheridan, and Grayson Lay the story concerns “a family of Confederate deserters who escape the Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski with a cache of stolen gold and disappear into the Georgia marshlands. When they take refuge in a remote plantation house, what first appears to be salvation slowly reveals itself as part of something ancient, predatory and impossible to escape.” Untitled Spy Comedy Deadline also had word Henry Cavill will star alongside Kevin Hart in a currently untitled “spy comedy” at Netflix from director McG. Said to be “based on a short story by Sean Lewis,” the story follows “two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.”
Breeder Variety reports Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty will star in Breeder, a horror movie from director Alex Goyette that sounds quite a bit like Sssssss with poodles. The film concerns “an eccentric poodle breeder who lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. As he soon learns, there’s a catch.”
Evil Dead Burn/Evil Dead Wrath In a recent interview with Deadline, Bruce Campbell stated the Evil Dead franchise has “moved away” from Ash Williams, Sam Raimi, and the cabin in the woods. No, no. I think I think basically from Evil Dead Rise on, Ash is… you know, they wanted some little gag of Ash at the end of the movie. We did that as a lark. He’s not part of any big overriding story or scheme. [The Evil Dead has] done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell. Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap. Man of Tomorrow Lex Luthor pulls a ray gun on Superman in newly-leaked photos from the Man of Tomorrow set. David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult filming “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” in Atlanta 05/06/26 pic.twitter.com/goNKFF8CSw — 🐤 (@hsufhkshndk11) June 6, 2026 Avengers: Doomsday A new slate of tie-in action figures provides the best looks yet at Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday.
First look at Hasbro’s Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor action figures for ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ 📷: @idlehandsblog pic.twitter.com/MiqHxoWKWT — Avengers Updates (@AvengersUpdated) June 7, 2026 Toy Story 5 Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack comprised entirely of Jessie clips. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDU4GB1PTxc[/embed] The Last of Us According to the Director’s Guild of Canada (via Screen Rant), filming on the third season of The Last of Us has temporarily ceased beginning June 1 and will not resume until June 28. The reason for the hiatus is not currently known. Ghostbusters: Night Shift Finally, Netflix has revealed the new Ghostbusters animated series is officially titled Night Shift and is slated for release sometime next tear. Can’t contain this one any longer. Ghostbusters: Night Shift, an original animated series, is coming to Netflix in 2027. pic.twitter.com/mZvvmpAnG0 — Ghostbusters (@Ghostbusters) June 6, 2026 Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Ghostbusters #Cartoon #Title #Release #DateEvil Dead Burn,Ghostbusters: Night Shift,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,Toy Story 5 The New ‘Ghostbusters’ Cartoon Gets a Title and Release Date
Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom gets an action figure. Bruce Campbell says Evil Dead has “moved away” from familiar favorites. Two new horror movies explore poodle breeding and the Civil War. They’re here already! You’re next! It’s Morning Spoilers! Brine Deadline reports Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker) and Dave Annable (Lioness) will star in Brine, a “supernatural Civil War thriller” from director B.J. Golnick. Co-starring Jonah Wharton, Sissy Sheridan, and Grayson Lay the story concerns “a family of Confederate deserters who escape the Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski with a cache of stolen gold and disappear into the Georgia marshlands. When they take refuge in a remote plantation house, what first appears to be salvation slowly reveals itself as part of something ancient, predatory and impossible to escape.” Untitled Spy Comedy Deadline also had word Henry Cavill will star alongside Kevin Hart in a currently untitled “spy comedy” at Netflix from director McG. Said to be “based on a short story by Sean Lewis,” the story follows “two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.”
Breeder Variety reports Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty will star in Breeder, a horror movie from director Alex Goyette that sounds quite a bit like Sssssss with poodles. The film concerns “an eccentric poodle breeder who lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. As he soon learns, there’s a catch.”
Evil Dead Burn/Evil Dead Wrath In a recent interview with Deadline, Bruce Campbell stated the Evil Dead franchise has “moved away” from Ash Williams, Sam Raimi, and the cabin in the woods. No, no. I think I think basically from Evil Dead Rise on, Ash is… you know, they wanted some little gag of Ash at the end of the movie. We did that as a lark. He’s not part of any big overriding story or scheme. [The Evil Dead has] done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell. Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap. Man of Tomorrow Lex Luthor pulls a ray gun on Superman in newly-leaked photos from the Man of Tomorrow set. David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult filming “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” in Atlanta 05/06/26 pic.twitter.com/goNKFF8CSw — 🐤 (@hsufhkshndk11) June 6, 2026 Avengers: Doomsday A new slate of tie-in action figures provides the best looks yet at Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday.
First look at Hasbro’s Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor action figures for ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ 📷: @idlehandsblog pic.twitter.com/MiqHxoWKWT — Avengers Updates (@AvengersUpdated) June 7, 2026 Toy Story 5 Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack comprised entirely of Jessie clips. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDU4GB1PTxc[/embed] The Last of Us According to the Director’s Guild of Canada (via Screen Rant), filming on the third season of The Last of Us has temporarily ceased beginning June 1 and will not resume until June 28. The reason for the hiatus is not currently known. Ghostbusters: Night Shift Finally, Netflix has revealed the new Ghostbusters animated series is officially titled Night Shift and is slated for release sometime next tear. Can’t contain this one any longer. Ghostbusters: Night Shift, an original animated series, is coming to Netflix in 2027. pic.twitter.com/mZvvmpAnG0 — Ghostbusters (@Ghostbusters) June 6, 2026 Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Ghostbusters #Cartoon #Title #Release #DateEvil Dead Burn,Ghostbusters: Night Shift,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,Toy Story 5](https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/06/Morning-Spoilers-June-8-1280x853.jpg)
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