Mercor raises $750 million in Series D as AI training startup reaches $20 billion valuation
Private capital continues to pour into artificial intelligence companies as investors back startups building tools and services around model development. Mercor says it has raised $750 million in a Series D round that values the San Francisco-based company at $20 billion.
Highlights
- Mercor raised $750 million in Series D funding, reaching a $20 billion valuation, with investors including Benchmark, Felicis, Fundomo, Nvidia, and Apollo affiliates.
- The company plans to use the capital to train and test AI agents on professional tasks, supporting its core platform linking tech companies and subject-matter experts.
- AI startups attracted $102 billion, or 64% of global VC funding, in Q3 2026, with Mercor's valuation doubling from $10 billion after its $350 million raise in October last year.
Funding round backs AI agent training push
As reported by Reuters, the latest round includes Benchmark, Felicis, Fundomo, Nvidia and funds managed by affiliates of Apollo, among other investors. The company says it plans to use the new capital to help train and test AI agents on professional tasks.Mercor began as an AI-powered hiring platform and now connects technology companies with subject-matter experts whose knowledge is used to train, test and improve AI models and agents. Co-CEO Brendan Foody says every job in the economy will need its own AI agents and every company will need a way to train and evaluate them on its own work.
Investor appetite lifts private AI valuations
Investor enthusiasm for AI fuels a sharp rise in private funding this year, expanding a group of heavily capitalized startups with multibillion-dollar valuations. According to Crunchbase, AI-driven startups raise $102 billion, or 64% of global venture capital, in the third quarter of 2026.Mercor is backed by Jack Dorsey and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. According to Crunchbase, the company was valued at about $10 billion after raising $350 million in October last year, showing how quickly valuations in the sector continue to climb.
As noted in our earlier article, a KPMG AI survey found AI agents boost efficiency, though broad transformation still lags.
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