San Francisco-based AI hiring platform Mercor has raised $30 million in Series A at a valuation of $250 million. The round was led by Victor Lazarte and Bill Gurley at Benchmark, with participation from General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, Chris Re, and others.
In addition to the investment, Victor Lazarte at Benchmark will join the board to continue supporting Mercer’s growth and development.
The funding will enable the company to broaden its operations and extend its market presence.
How was the idea born?
Mercor was founded by high school friends Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha. They met in high school in the Bay Area doing competitive debate, and began ideating on company-building as college freshmen at Georgetown and Harvard. In 2023, they dropped out and began building Mercor. Earlier this year, all three founders received the Thiel Fellowship.
What does the company do?
Since its launch, the company has added over 300,000 people to their candidate pool and created thousands of jobs globally. The team uses AI models to better assess a candidate’s skill set and predict their ability to perform well in a given role.
To celebrate their recent progress and funding announcement, Mercor is offering free resume and interview feedback for everyone, a resource that has been traditionally unattainable or expensive for candidates. The company’s AI-powered platform efficiently reviews extensive candidate profiles, conducts personalised interviews, and connects job seekers with suitable opportunities. With this approach, it aims to eliminate the biases and inefficiencies that plague traditional recruitment methods.
“We believe that every applicant deserves the opportunity to be interviewed when applying for jobs,” said Brendan Foody, Mercor’s co-founder and CEO. “The current hiring process selects candidates based on traditional resume signals, and not human ability. AI can do better.”
