Two Indian-Americans become world’s youngest self-made billionaires at 22

Youngest self-made AI billionaires emerge (source: x@tariquesha1)

At just 22 years old, Mercor co-founders Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha have become the youngest self-made billionaires in history, surpassing Mark Zuckerberg, who achieved the milestone at age 23. The San Francisco-based AI recruiting startup raised $350 million in its latest funding round, lifting its valuation to roughly $10 billion.

Who they are

Foody serves as CEO of Mercor, while Indian-American Hiremath is its CTO and Indian-American Midha is chair of the board. Both Hiremath and Midha attended Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California, where they first met Foody and excelled on the school’s debate team. Hiremath dropped out of Harvard University to devote himself full-time to the venture.

What the company does

Mercor operates in the booming AI sector: it connects major AI laboratories with skilled human experts via a “human-in-the-loop” model, supplying training data, annotation services and talent. The startup’s rapid growth reflects surging demand for infrastructure that supports generative-AI systems.

Why this matters

The timing is striking: fewer self-made billionaires under age 30 have been emerging lately, making this achievement even more exceptional. Their success underscores how quickly value can accrue in AI-adjacent markets when founders scale globally and tap emerging trends. It also brings renewed focus to the South Asian diaspora’s impact in tech entrepreneurship.

Final thought

In a single round, three 22-year-olds rewrote the youthful billionaire playbook. For Foody, Hiremath and Midha, it’s a story of friendship, risk-taking and riding the AI wave—but it’s also a signal of how fast new financial ranks can form in the tech era.