Young Innovators Make Billionaire Ranks
In an impressive achievement, three 22-year-olds have become the youngest self-made billionaires in the world, surpassing Mark Zuckerberg, who was 23 when he reached this milestone.
The trio consists of Adarsh Hiremath, Surya Midha, and Brendan Foody, all co-founders of Mercor, an AI recruiting platform based in San Francisco. Their company recently secured $350 million in funding, giving it a valuation of $10 billion. As a result, each founder’s net worth is now over $2 billion.
Adarsh’s family hails from Karnataka, India, while Surya has roots in New Delhi. The three friends first connected at Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school in San Jose, where they bonded during late-night debates.
Despite attending different universities—Foody at Georgetown for economics, Hiremath at Harvard for computer science, and Midha at Georgetown for foreign service—their paths reunited as they launched Mercor in early 2023 during their sophomore year.
Originally, Mercor started as an online marketplace that connected skilled Indian software engineers with U.S. startups seeking affordable talent. However, recognizing a growing need for human involvement in training AI models, like ChatGPT, they pivoted to an AI-focused recruitment platform.
Now, Mercor links businesses with experts from various fields, including law, medicine, finance, and engineering. The platform boasts a network of 30,000 specialists who assist in enhancing AI systems by labeling data and providing critical human insights.
Among its clients are major players in the tech industry, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and six of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants, which include Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Tesla. These companies utilize Mercor to find the talent necessary to develop smarter AI technologies.
Interestingly, the average age of Mercor’s 30-member team mirrors that of its founders, standing at just 22 years old.
