Mercor company data: what UK companies should know

About Mercor

Mercor is a San Francisco company founded in 2023 by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha (Wikipedia). Its network of "more than five million domain experts" builds tasks and scoring rubrics that AI labs use to test their models, and in July 2026 it acquired Deeptune, which builds simulation environments for AI agents (Fortune).

Mercor took part in the Spirit Airlines data auction in August 2026. Google won with a $10m bid, and Mercor was "designated as the backup buyer at $7.5 million", according to Business Traveller.

What Mercor takes

Mercor licenses the operational data your business generates every day, taken from connected tools. Its programme page names Slack, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Gmail, Confluence, Salesforce, GitHub, Google Drive and Notion, and says you can "choose from 100+ supported tools". It also says: "The more tools you share, the higher your payout will be."

It lists these target industries: legal, healthcare, finance and insurance, professional services, manufacturing, retail and e-commerce, real estate, and logistics and supply chain.

Who it accepts

Mercor publishes no minimum company size, no minimum years of records and no country rules. It lists target industries, but presents them as a guide to fit rather than a rule.

Prices and payment

Mercor publishes no prices. It says compensation depends on data volume, the tools connected and the depth of the data, that there are no fees or deductions, and that it covers the costs of extraction, anonymisation and transfer.

On timing, it says: "Payment is issued via wire transfer upon delivery of the anonymized dataset to the buyer. This typically occurs within 2-4 weeks of the signed agreement, depending on data extraction and processing time." One step of its process describes payment "as soon as processing is complete", so check which trigger applies to you.

How it handles your data

• Mercor says extraction and anonymisation are "fully automated", that its staff do not manually review your data, and that "no AI lab buyer or third-party vendor ever sees your raw data".
• It says no data leaves your systems until you approve it, that it holds SOC 2 Type II, and that encryption keys are managed in AWS KMS. These are the company's own claims.
• The page does not set out deletion terms or exclusivity.

In March 2026, Mercor confirmed a security incident linked to a compromised open-source tool, LiteLLM, as reported by TechCrunch. Ask any buyer how it protects data and what it has changed after past incidents.

What a UK company should check

1. Country. Whether Mercor takes UK companies, and how personal data would leave the UK.
2. Payment trigger. Whether you are paid on processing or on delivery to the buyer, and what happens if delivery is delayed.
3. Security. What controls protect your data, and what changed after the March 2026 incident.
4. Deletion and exclusivity. Neither is published. Get both in writing.
5. Client material. In legal, finance and other regulated sectors, client material and privileged documents should stay out.
6. Governing law. Which country's law the agreement uses.

How Mercor compares

Mercor says payment typically comes 2 to 4 weeks after signing. Labelbox Prism, Ooak Data and Grepped also publish timelines of a few weeks, although each measures from a different point. Unlike Scale AI, Handshake AI and Mode, it publishes no price range or minimum size. Compare it in our buyer directory, or check an offer you already have with the offer check.