The world’s youngest self-made billionaires are 22-year-old AI founders Brendan Foody, Adar Hiramath, and Surya Mida of San Francisco startup Merkor, which recently secured a $10 billion valuation by revolutionizing AI model training through a recruiting platform. Their rapid rise, fueled by early tech exposure, strategic pivots, and dedication, exemplifies the new generation of young entrepreneurs thriving in the AI era.
The world’s youngest self-made billionaires are a trio of 22-year-old AI founders from the San Francisco startup Merkor. The company, which helps Silicon Valley’s biggest AI labs train their models through a recruiting platform, recently secured a $350 million funding round led by Felicis Ventures, valuing Merkor at $10 billion. The three founders—CEO Brendan Foody, CTO Adar Hiramath, and board chairman Surya Mida—each hold roughly a 22% stake in the company, making them the newest billionaires of the AI boom.
Merkor’s founders have a unique background as longtime friends from the Bay Area who competed together on their school debate team. All three are Teal Fellows, recipients of $100,000 grants from conservative billionaire investor Peter Thiel in exchange for foregoing college. Hiramath, who dropped out of Harvard after his sophomore year, reflected on how quickly his life changed, noting that if he hadn’t joined Merkor, he would have just graduated college recently. Their rapid rise has made them emblematic of the new generation of young entrepreneurs thriving in the AI era.
This trio has surpassed previous holders of the youngest self-made billionaire title, including Shane Copan, CEO of Poly Market, who was 27, and Alexander Wang, co-founder of Scale AI, who was 28. Notably, the Merkor founders are younger than Mark Zuckerberg was when he became a billionaire at 23. Surya Mida, the youngest of the three by about two months, joins a very exclusive group of billionaires who achieved this status at an exceptionally young age, with only Kylie Jenner debuting earlier at 21, though her fortune was later scrutinized by Forbes.
Merkor was founded in 2023 with the initial goal of connecting engineers in India with U.S. companies needing freelance coders. They developed a recruiting platform that uses AI avatars to interview candidates and match them with companies. In the process, they pivoted into the lucrative data labeling market, pairing expert contractors such as PhDs and lawyers with leading AI labs like OpenAI. The company has seen rapid growth, hitting a $500 million annualized revenue run rate by September 2025, up from $100 million in March.
Despite their newfound wealth, the founders remain focused on their work and have not indulged in flashy purchases. Foody shared that he typically works late into the night six days a week, leaving little time for distractions outside the business. Growing up in tech-savvy families, all three founders were exposed to the industry early on, with parents involved in software engineering and startups. Their story highlights the blend of talent, timing, and dedication fueling the latest wave of young tech billionaires in the AI revolution.