Updated 8 Nov 2026
Mercor vs Handshake AI, by the numbers.
By revenue, Mercor is the larger: $2B (run rate, Jun 2026), against Handshake AI's $1B (run rate, Aug 2026).
Both sell RL environments, expert and human data and evaluations and benchmarks. Only Mercor sells datasets. Only Handshake AI sells annotation. Every figure below is linked to the filing or article it comes from; what each sells is in its own words, from its own pages.
Hold data companies like these buy? AIData.Broker values it free and introduces it to every buyer that takes it, at no cost to you: the buyers pay us. Where it earns more, we run the sale ourselves, for a fee only out of a sale.
- No data upload
- About two minutes
- No email needed
Side by side
Revenue over twelve months, the newest valuation, disclosed funding and what each says it does.
| Mercor | Handshake AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Mercor | Handshake AI | |
| Place on the rankings | #1 of 78 | #3 of 78 |
| Ranked on | $2B Revenue, run rate, Jun 2026 | $1B Revenue, run rate, Aug 2026 |
| Revenue, twelve months | $2B run rate, Jun 2026 over time | $1B run rate, Aug 2026 over time |
| Newest valuation | $10B Oct 2025 | $3.5B Jan 2022 |
| Disclosed funding | $480M in 3 records | $200M in 1 record |
| Sells | RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks | RL environments, Evaluations and benchmarks, Expert and human data, Annotation |
| Works on | Coding, Business work, Finance, Legal, Medical | Coding, Business work, Finance, Legal, Science, Images and video |
| Made from | Made by experts and contractors, Replicas of real software, Generated, Licensed from its owners | Made by experts and contractors, Licensed from its owners |
| Takes data from companies | Through our introductions | Through our introductions |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, US | San Francisco, California, US |
| Founded | 2023 | 2014 |
| In its own words | “We develop benchmarks, evaluation environments, and large-scale human datasets to fuel AI breakthroughs at the frontier, all through our marketplace of top-tier experts.” Its page | “Handshake AI is our new service to provide expert human model validation and technology systems for frontier AI development.” Its page |
- The rule.
- Each company is ranked on the first of these it has on record: its revenue over twelve months (a run rate or a year as published, or its last four quarters added up; an AI segment where the rest of its business is not AI data), then its newest valuation, then the money it disclosed raising. No company pays for a place. The full method and every change to it.
- Twelve months.
- A run rate or ARR is the company's own annualised figure; a year is the year it published. Gross revenue of a human data company includes what it pays its experts.
- Pays companies for data.
- "Through our introductions": it takes companies' data through AIData.Broker's introductions and pays us a referral fee when one goes ahead. That never moves its place: the order is the money on record. "Its own programme": a published programme for buying data. "Says it buys data": its own words, linked.
- Why this pair.
- People search for this comparison: Google suggests it, read on 8 Nov 2026. Neither company asked for or paid for this page.
Selling your company's data to Mercor or Handshake AI
What each says it pays a company for its data, what it wants and when it pays, in its own published terms.
| Mercor | Handshake AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Takes data from companies | Through our introductions | Through our introductions |
| What it says it pays | $10K to $1.5M Mercor, data page, 8 Nov 2026 | $100K to $4M Handshake AI, data licensing page, 5 Nov 2026 |
| What it wants | Workflow data from Slack, Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Confluence, Salesforce, GitHub, Drive, Notion and 100+ other tools. | Operational data from the tools a business runs on (Gmail, Slack, Drive, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Figma and more), transferred as it exists today. |
| When it pays | By wire on delivery of the anonymised dataset to the buyer, typically within 2 to 4 weeks of the signed agreement; the same page's process step says "Get paid as soon as processing is complete." | "Payment terms are negotiated as part of your agreement and tied to defined delivery milestones." It says an initial review and pricing come within 12 to 24 hours of the details it needs, and the whole process typically takes 7 to 14 business days (FAQ on its data-partnerships page, 17 Oct 2026). |
You need not choose one: AIData.Broker values a company's data free and introduces it to every buyer whose own rules take it. Value your data
On the same rankings
The lists both are ranked on, with each one's place.
- Legal AI training data companiesMercor #1, Handshake AI #3 of 17
- Finance AI training data companiesMercor #1, Handshake AI #3 of 25
- Coding data companies for AIMercor #1, Handshake AI #3 of 33
- RL environment companiesMercor #1, Handshake AI #3 of 36
- Best AI data labs and human data companiesMercor #1, Handshake AI #3 of 41
- AI evaluation companiesMercor #1, Handshake AI #3 of 60
The latest money moves
The newest rounds, valuations and revenue figures of the two, each linked to its record.
- 27 Aug 2026Handshake AI reported $1B revenue (run rate, Aug 2026)
- 9 Jul 2026Mercor was acquired by Mercor
- 6 Jul 2026Mercor reported $2B revenue (run rate, Jun 2026)
- 28 Jan 2026Handshake AI was acquired by Handshake
- 27 Oct 2025Mercor raised $350M at a $10B valuation
- 20 Feb 2025Mercor raised $100M at a $2B valuation
- 23 Sep 2024Mercor raised $30M at a $250M valuation
- 19 Jan 2022Handshake AI raised $200M at a $3.5B valuation
The questions people ask
- Is Mercor bigger than Handshake AI?
- By revenue, Mercor is the larger: $2B (run rate, Jun 2026), against Handshake AI's $1B (run rate, Aug 2026).
- What is the difference between Mercor and Handshake AI?
- Mercor builds benchmarks, RL environments and large-scale human datasets for AI labs and enterprise model developers, sourced through its expert marketplace. Handshake AI provides expert human model validation, RL environments and evaluations to AI labs, drawing on a network of graduate-level experts. Both sell RL environments, expert and human data and evaluations and benchmarks. Only Mercor sells datasets. Only Handshake AI sells annotation.
- Which raised more money, Mercor or Handshake AI?
- Mercor: $480M disclosed, valued at $10B (2025). Handshake AI: $200M disclosed, valued at $3.5B (2022).
- Do Mercor and Handshake AI buy data from companies?
- Mercor takes data from the companies that hold it, through a published programme. Handshake AI takes data from the companies that hold it, through a published programme.
More comparisons
Each company against its whole field, and the other comparisons people search.