At 22, most people are just graduating from college and stepping into their first jobs. Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, however, have stepped into the billionaire club.
The two Indian-origin entrepreneurs have entered the Hurun Global Rich List 2026 as the world’s youngest self-made billionaires, each with an estimated net worth of US$2.4 billion. Their wealth comes from Mercor, the artificial intelligence hiring start-up they co-founded with their friend Brendan Foody.
The duo, along with their close friend Brendan Foody, co-founded the artificial intelligence hiring start-up Mercor, which has rapidly become one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing companies.
From Bay Area schoolmates to global entrepreneurs
Hiremath and Midha grew up in California’s Bay Area, where they met during their school years. Their friendship began at Bellarmine College Preparatory, a school known for its strong academic and debate culture.
Both were standout debaters. Together, they achieved a rare milestone that is becoming the first team ever to win all three major US national policy debate tournaments in the same year. Their debating success also brought them close to Brendan Foody, who then became their co-founder. They developed a shared interest in technology, policy and entrepreneurship during these years.
The founders grew up in environments closely linked to the tech world. All three are children of software engineers, and their early exposure to Silicon Valley’s start-up culture shaped their ambitions.
Foody’s mother worked in Meta’s real-estate team and his father founded a graphics interface company in the 1990s before becoming a start-up advisor. Foody himself experimented with entrepreneurship early. At 16, he started a small venture helping friends secure promotional credits on Amazon Web Services, charging them $500 each.
Hiremath and Midha had already been competing together in debate tournaments since they were about ten years old.
Leaving elite universities to build Mercor
After high school, the founders initially chose traditional academic paths. Hiremath enrolled at Harvard University, focusing on computer science. Midha pursued international studies at Georgetown University, and Foody studied economics at Georgetown as well.
Hiremath’s time at Harvard also exposed him to research on labour markets. He worked with Larry Summers, former US treasury secretary and current OpenAI board member, who later became an investor in Mercor.
But the trio’s trajectory changed when their startup idea began gaining a lot of popularity. All three eventually chose to leave university to focus on Mercor full time. They also became Thiel Fellows, part of Peter Thiel’s programme that awards $100,000 grants to young entrepreneurs willing to leave college and build companies.
Hiremath said in a Forbes interview, “It’s definitely crazy,” Foody told Forbes. “It feels very surreal. Obviously beyond our wildest imaginations, insofar as anything that we could have anticipated two years ago.”
He further added, “The thing that’s crazy for me is, if I weren’t working on Mercor, I would have just graduated college a couple months ago,” said Hiremath, who spent two years at Harvard before dropping out after Sophomore year. “My life did such a 180 in such a short period of time.”
Building Mercor
The founders launched Mercor in 2023 with an ambitious idea to modernise the global hiring process using artificial intelligence.
The company initially focused on connecting software engineers in India with companies in the United States that needed freelance coders. Applicants could interview through AI-powered virtual interviewers, and the platform would match them with companies seeking specific skills.
Hiremath led Mercor’s technical development as Chief Technology Officer, Midha, whose academic background focused on international policy and global affairs, became Chairman. Foody took on the role of Chief Executive Officer, leading strategy and growth.
Mercor gained traction among major technology companies, including OpenAI, Google and Meta. The founders even recall early challenges that reflected their age, they were sometimes unable to enter bars where executives wanted to meet for business discussions because they were not yet of legal drinking age.
A rapid rise in the AI boom
The startup’s growth has been dramatic. According to Forbes, the company had raised around $135 million from investors such as Felicis, Benchmark and General Catalyst, valuing it at $2 billion.
At the time, the founders said they had not intentionally pursued fundraising.
“We never intentionally raised a round,” they told Forbes, adding that they had “haven’t touched almost any of the money.”
A $350 million Series C funding round led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from Benchmark, General Catalyst and Robinhood Ventures, pushed Mercor’s valuation to $10 billion. The deal made Foody, Hiremath and Midha the world’s youngest self-made billionaires, each holding roughly 22% of the company.
Younger than Zuckerberg
At just 22, Hiremath, Midha and Foody are younger than Mark Zuckerberg was when he first became a billionaire. They have also overtaken several recent title holders.
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, aged 27, briefly held the record earlier this year after his company secured a major investment. Before him, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, aged 28, had been widely recognised as the youngest self-made billionaire in tech.