Step aside, Mark Zuckerberg, Silicon Valley has a new muscle to flex in its rolodex of young founders. Billionaire Brendan Foody, 22, is defying the stereotype that Gen Z doesn’t like hard work.
Foody is one of the trio of 22-year-olds from the Bay area who went from debate teammates to self-made billionaires on the back of a huge funding round for their AI recruiting startup, Mercor.
When the model for the company was curated at a hackathon in São Paulo, Foody knew that he, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha had built something that couldn’t be replicated in classrooms. Its AI-powered hiring platform automates aspects of the hiring process, such as resume screening, candidate matching and AI-powered interviews. Within nine months, he and his co-founders had turned the idea into a company with a $1 million revenue run rate, which they claim is one of the fastest-scaling startups of the AI era.
Their fortune was minted from a recent $350 million funding round led by Felicis Ventures, and backed with participation from Benchmark, General Catalyst, and new investor Robinhood Ventures, bringing them to decacorn status with a $10 billion valuation.
After dropping out of college at Georgetown to go all in on Mercor—Foody’s days aren’t packed with coffee chats and luxury downtime. Even with a packed calendar full of meetings (which he says on a long week could feel like 40 hours), Foody said his love for his business keeps the entrepreneur and former Thiel Fellow afloat.
