Net worth of two 23-year-old AI entrepreneurs of Indian origin reaches $4.2 billion

Two young entrepreneurs of Indian origin have increased their net worth to approximately $4.2 billion (around ₹15.4 billion). According to a report by Gulf News, this success comes after their artificial intelligence (AI) startup 'Mercor' received new funding at a valuation of $20 billion.

These 23-year-old entrepreneurs are Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, who are among the three co-founders of the US-based company along with Chief Executive Brandon Fuodi. In a Series D funding round announced on November 10, the trio raised $750 million. Investors such as Benchmark, General Catalyst, Nvidia, and Salesforce participated in this funding.

According to Forbes, each founder holds a 21 per cent stake in Mercor, which has pushed their individual net worth to approximately $4.2 billion. In October 2025, when the company's valuation was $10 billion and it received $350 million in funding, their net worth was $2.2 billion each. Thus, their wealth has nearly doubled.

Last year, these three entrepreneurs made history by becoming the world's youngest self-made billionaires at the age of 22. At 23, they have maintained this identity, with Surya Midha being about two months younger than the other two.

Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha studied together at Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose, California, and became friends through the debate team. They were the first team from their school to win three major national policy debate championships in a single year. Subsequently, in 2023, they founded Mercor along with Brandon Fuodi. All three were also selected for the Thiel Fellowship, which provides $100,000 in assistance to young entrepreneurs for business ventures.

Surya Midha's parents moved from New Delhi to the US; he was born in Mountain View and raised in San Jose. Adarsh Hiremath studied computer science at Harvard University but dropped out after two years to focus on the startup.

Mercor started as a recruitment platform connecting freelance coders from India with American companies. Later, it expanded into data labelling and AI training, where professionals such as doctors and lawyers are connected with AI companies for the development and evaluation of AI models. The recently received funding will help in the expansion of its evaluation and post-training business, which helps companies measure the performance of AI models and improve their ability to perform professional tasks.

Brandon Fuodi stated in a post on X that Mercor's annual revenue has grown from $1 million to $3 billion in just two years. He further mentioned that there have been $250 million in gross sales in the last month and the number of customers has doubled to over 100.

Despite the rapid growth, Mercor's valuation is lower than its competitors. Following an investment from Meta in 2025, Scale AI's valuation is $29 billion and, according to Forbes, Surge AI's valuation is approximately $24 billion.