Two Indian-Americans Become World’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaires at 22

In a milestone highlighting AI’s explosive rise, two Indian-Americans, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, along with co-founder Brendan Foody, have become the world’s youngest self-made billionaires at just 22. Their AI-powered startup, Mercor, reached a $10 billion valuation after a recent $350 million funding round, outpacing Mark Zuckerberg, who joined the Forbes list at 23.

The trio, high school friends from San Jose’s Bellarmine College Preparatory, started Mercor in 2023 as a platform for remote work. It evolved into a “human-in-the-loop” AI recruitment system, connecting elite AI labs—like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic—with over 30,000 vetted global experts. These specialists help refine AI models through human oversight, a crucial component in ethical AI development.

Backed by Peter Thiel’s Fellowship, the founders skipped college to build Mercor, now central to the AI infrastructure economy. Their story underscores how GenAI-driven platforms are creating billionaires faster than any tech boom before—compressing years of innovation into months.

Hiremath and Midha’s success also amplifies the growing impact of Indian-American innovators, signaling a generational shift in Silicon Valley where diversity, ambition, and AI now converge to define global entrepreneurship.