In a remarkable story of ambition and innovation, three 22-year-old friends — Adarsh Hiremath, Surya Midha, and Brendan Foody — have become the world’s youngest self-made billionaires. Their Silicon Valley-based startup, Mercor, recently raised $350 million, valuing the company at an astounding $10 billion. This achievement pushes them ahead of Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire at 23, marking a new era for Gen Z entrepreneurs.

Each founder now holds about 22 percent of the company, putting their individual net worth above $2 billion. Foody leads as CEO, Hiremath serves as CTO, and Midha chairs the board. Together, they’ve transformed a small idea into one of the fastest-growing AI startups in Silicon Valley.

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The trio’s journey began at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California. There, they bonded through national debate tournaments, sharpening their analytical and communication skills. These long nights of argument and logic turned out to be the foundation of their entrepreneurial success. “We were always arguing about the future of work,” Foody recalled in a recent interview — a topic that would later inspire Mercor.

After high school, they pursued different academic paths: Foody studied economics at Georgetown, Hiremath enrolled in computer science at Harvard, and Midha pursued foreign service at Georgetown. Despite studying in different cities, their shared curiosity for technology kept them connected.

In early 2023, during their sophomore year, the trio founded Mercor as an online marketplace connecting Indian software engineers with U.S. startups. The platform aimed to bridge the talent gap between skilled developers in India and growing American tech firms. But when the global demand for AI-related human expertise exploded, Mercor swiftly pivoted.

The company evolved into an AI-driven recruiting platform that connects skilled professionals with top AI labs and tech giants. Today, Mercor’s network includes over 30,000 specialists from fields like law, medicine, engineering, and finance. These experts help train, label, and refine data for leading AI models, contributing to projects by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and several of the world’s largest tech firms.

Mercor’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. By mid-2024, it reached $500 million in annualized revenue, up from $100 million earlier that year. The founders, recipients of the Thiel Fellowship’s $100,000 grant for dropping out of college, devoted themselves fully to scaling the business.

Their funding journey was rapid. A $32 million Series A in late 2024 valued the startup at $250 million. A $100 million Series B in early 2025 pushed it to $2 billion. When Meta acquired Scale AI for $14.3 billion, many major AI labs sought a neutral partner, turning to Mercor. This led to the landmark $350 million Series C funding, giving the startup its current $10 billion valuation and turning its founders into billionaires overnight.

Beyond its financial triumph, Mercor stands for a bold vision — a global labor marketplace powered by artificial intelligence. CTO Adarsh Hiremath envisions a future where Mercor seamlessly matches people worldwide to the right jobs using AI-driven algorithms. The company operates with a lean team of just 30 employees, most in their early twenties, embodying the youthful spirit that fuels its innovation.

Mercor’s mission goes beyond profit. By empowering skilled professionals from emerging economies to participate in the AI revolution, the platform is democratizing access to global opportunities. It represents a new era of work where technology and human intelligence function together, not apart.

The success of Hiremath, Midha, and Foody reflects the changing face of Silicon Valley — youthful, data-driven, and globally minded. Their journey from school debates to billion-dollar boardrooms symbolizes what’s possible when curiosity meets courage. As Mercor continues to grow, it’s not just redefining AI recruitment but also proving that the next generation of innovators can build billion-dollar ideas before they even graduate.

Their story stands as an inspiration to dreamers everywhere — a reminder that vision, collaboration, and determination can transform high school friendships into world-changing enterprises.