What is the difference between Mercor and Scale AI?

Mercor builds benchmarks, RL environments and large-scale human datasets for AI labs and enterprise model developers, sourced through its expert marketplace. Scale AI provides training data, RL environments, and model evaluations to AI labs, governments, and enterprises. Both sell RL environments, datasets, expert and human data and evaluations and benchmarks. Only Scale AI sells labeling software, annotation and simulation.

Which raised more money, Mercor or Scale AI?

Mercor: $480M disclosed, valued at $10B (2025). Scale AI: $15.3B disclosed, valued at $29B (2025).

Do Mercor and Scale AI buy data from companies?

Mercor takes data from the companies that hold it, through a published programme. Scale AI takes data from the companies that hold it, through a published programme.

Updated 8 Nov 2026

Mercor vs Scale AI, by the numbers.

By revenue, Mercor is the larger: $2B (run rate, Jun 2026), against Scale AI's $870M (FY2024). Scale AI's figure is the older by 18 months; no later one is on record.

Both sell RL environments, datasets, expert and human data and evaluations and benchmarks. Only Scale AI sells labeling software, annotation and simulation. 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.

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Side by side

Revenue over twelve months, the newest valuation, disclosed funding and what each says it does.

Mercor and Scale AI compared on revenue, valuation, funding and what each sells
	Mercor	Scale AI
	Mercor	Scale AI
Place on the rankings	#1 of 78	#5 of 78
Ranked on	$2B Revenue, run rate, Jun 2026	$870M Revenue, FY2024
Revenue, twelve months	$2B run rate, Jun 2026 over time	$870M FY2024 over time
Newest valuation	$10B Oct 2025	$29B Jun 2025
Disclosed funding	$480M in 3 records	$15.3B in 2 records
Sells	RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks	Labeling software, RL environments, Datasets, Expert and human data, Evaluations and benchmarks, Annotation, Simulation
Works on	Coding, Business work, Finance, Legal, Medical	Coding, Computer use, Business work, Robotics, Medical
Made from	Made by experts and contractors, Replicas of real software, Generated, Licensed from its owners	Made by experts and contractors, Replicas of real software
Takes data from companies	Through our introductions	Through our introductions
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, US	San Francisco, California, US
Founded	2023	2016
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	“Scale delivers proven data, evaluations, and outcomes to AI labs, governments, and the Fortune 500.” 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 Scale AI

What each says it pays a company for its data, what it wants and when it pays, in its own published terms.

What Mercor and Scale AI publish about buying a company's data
	Mercor	Scale 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	$10K to $1M Scale AI, data partnership page, 7 Nov 2026
What it wants	Workflow data from Slack, Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Confluence, Salesforce, GitHub, Drive, Notion and 100+ other tools.	Structured, de-identified records from data warehouses, chat, email, documents, work tools and business platforms.
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."	Not published. A scoping call first; a partnership can begin with a very limited scope.

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On the same rankings

The lists both are ranked on, with each one's place.

Medical AI training data companiesMercor #1, Scale AI #4 of 26
Coding data companies for AIMercor #1, Scale AI #5 of 33
RL environment companiesMercor #1, Scale AI #5 of 36
Best AI data labs and human data companiesMercor #1, Scale AI #5 of 41
Best AI training data providersMercor #1, Scale AI #4 of 53
AI evaluation companiesMercor #1, Scale AI #5 of 60

The latest money moves

The newest rounds, valuations and revenue figures of the two, each linked to its record.

9 Jul 2026Mercor was acquired by Mercor
6 Jul 2026Mercor reported $2B revenue (run rate, Jun 2026)
27 Oct 2025Mercor raised $350M at a $10B valuation
12 Jun 2025Scale AI raised $14.3B at a $29B valuation
8 Jun 2025Scale AI reported $870M revenue (FY2024)
20 Feb 2025Mercor raised $100M at a $2B valuation
23 Sep 2024Mercor raised $30M at a $250M valuation
21 May 2024Scale AI raised $1B at a $13.8B valuation

The questions people ask

Is Mercor bigger than Scale AI?: By revenue, Mercor is the larger: $2B (run rate, Jun 2026), against Scale AI's $870M (FY2024). Scale AI's figure is the older by 18 months; no later one is on record.
What is the difference between Mercor and Scale AI?: Mercor builds benchmarks, RL environments and large-scale human datasets for AI labs and enterprise model developers, sourced through its expert marketplace. Scale AI provides training data, RL environments, and model evaluations to AI labs, governments, and enterprises. Both sell RL environments, datasets, expert and human data and evaluations and benchmarks. Only Scale AI sells labeling software, annotation and simulation.
Which raised more money, Mercor or Scale AI?: Mercor: $480M disclosed, valued at $10B (2025). Scale AI: $15.3B disclosed, valued at $29B (2025).
Do Mercor and Scale AI buy data from companies?: Mercor takes data from the companies that hold it, through a published programme. Scale AI takes data from the companies that hold it, through a published programme.

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