Mercor, under CEO Brendan Foody, has created a $10 billion marketplace that provides AI labs access to valuable data from various industries. This is achieved by connecting AI developers with former senior employees from sectors like investment banking, consulting, and law. These experts offer their corporate knowledge to train AI models, bypassing the challenges of obtaining data directly from companies.
Mercor engages with tens of thousands of contractors, distributing over $1.5 million daily for tasks such as completing forms and writing reports for AI training. Despite these costs, the company remains profitable due to the high value AI labs place on this data. AI labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta are among Mercor's customers.
Foody acknowledges that while some companies may resist this model, others are accepting it as the "new future of work". Mercor's approach could establish a new gig economy, similar to Uber's impact. The company's annualised recurring revenue has grown to approximately $500 million in just under three years.
