Nvidia in Talks to Invest in AI Data Firm Mercor at $20B Valuation

Nvidia is in advanced discussions to invest in Mercor, an artificial intelligence data platform it already pays for training data, in a deal that would value the startup at approximately $20 billion. The potential investment, led by venture capital firm General Catalyst, would represent a doubling of Mercor's valuation from its last funding round in October 2025. The transaction is under negotiation and has not yet been finalized.

Mercor, founded in 2023 by three San Francisco-based college dropouts, connects domain specialists in fields like law, finance, and science with AI labs needing expertise for model refinement. The company has experienced rapid growth, reporting $614 million in gross revenue during the first half of 2026. By the end of June, its annualized revenue run rate had surpassed $2 billion, more than doubling from the previous year. Its client roster includes major AI developers such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.

Nvidia has become one of Mercor's most significant customers. In the last quarter, Nvidia paid Mercor tens of millions of dollars for premium training datasets used to develop its Nemotron suite of open-source AI models. The business...