# Surya Midha

> Surya Midha is a 22-year-old co-founder and Chairman of Mercor, the AI-powered talent platform valued at $10 billion. A Thiel Fellow, national debate champion, and Georgetown dropout, Midha co-built Mercor from a São Paulo hackathon into a company paying 30,000+ contractors over $1.5 million daily, matching elite human intelligence with AI labs including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. In 2026, he became one of the youngest people ever to appear on the Forbes World's Billionaires List with a net worth of $2.2 billion.

- **Role:** Chairman at Mercor
- **Organizations:** Mercor
- **From:** Mountain View, California, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School Diploma (Salutatorian), Bellarmine College Preparatory, International Relations, Mathematics & Economics (academic leave 2023), Georgetown University (School of Foreign Service)
- **Known for:** First team in history to win all three national policy debate championships (TOC, NDCA, NSDA) with partner Adarsh Hiremath, Individually ranked best speaker at both the Tournament of Champions and NDCA, Graduated salutatorian from Bellarmine College Preparatory (2021)

## Career timeline

- **2017-2021** — Attended Bellarmine College Preparatory; graduated salutatorian; won all three national policy debate championships with partner Adarsh Hiremath
- **2021** — Enrolled at Georgetown University studying international relations, mathematics, and economics
- **2022** — Interned at Brookings Institution under economist Eswar Prasad; served as research assistant to Professor Caitlin Talmadge at Georgetown
- **Spring 2023** — Took academic leave from Georgetown; co-founded Mercor with Brendan Foody and Adarsh Hiremath at a hackathon in São Paulo, Brazil
- **2023** — Mercor reached seven-figure annual revenue run rate; raised $3.6M seed round led by General Catalyst
- **March 2024** — Named a Thiel Fellow (alongside co-founders)
- **September 2024** — Mercor raised $30-32M Series A at $250M valuation
- **January-February 2025** — Mercor raised $100M Series B at $2B valuation
- **October 2025** — Mercor raised $350M Series C at $10B valuation; Midha transitioned from COO to Chairman of the Board; all three co-founders became world's youngest self-made billionaires
- **March 2026** — Appeared on Forbes World's Billionaires List 2026 with estimated $2.2B net worth, surpassing Zuckerberg's record as youngest-ever Forbes billionaire

## Achievements

- First team in history to win all three national policy debate championships (TOC, NDCA, NSDA) with partner Adarsh Hiremath
- Individually ranked best speaker at both the Tournament of Champions and NDCA
- Graduated salutatorian from Bellarmine College Preparatory (2021)
- Named Forbes 30 Under 30 (2025)
- Received Thiel Fellowship (2024)
- Co-founded Mercor, valued at $10 billion in October 2025
- Became one of the world's youngest self-made billionaires at age 22
- Surpassed Mark Zuckerberg's record as youngest person to appear on the Forbes World's Billionaires List
- Built Mercor to $500M+ annual revenue within ~2 years of founding
- Mercor manages 30,000+ contractors paid over $1.5 million daily

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Appeared on Forbes World's Billionaires List 2026 with estimated net worth of $2.2 billion, surpassing Zuckerberg's previous record as youngest-ever Forbes billionaire
- **2025-10** — Mercor closed $350M Series C at $10B valuation; Midha transitioned from COO to Chairman of the Board
- **2025-09** — Mercor reached $500M+ annual revenue run rate, managing 30,000+ contractors paid over $1.5M daily
- **2025-02** — Mercor raised $100M Series B at $2B valuation
- **2024-09** — Mercor raised $30-32M Series A at $250M valuation
- **2024-03** — Named a Thiel Fellow alongside co-founders Brendan Foody and Adarsh Hiremath

## Links

- Website: https://suryamidha.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/suryamidha
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/suryamidha
- GitHub: https://github.com/suryamidha

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/surya-midha
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-22