Issue #2: Is Mercor on track to become the next Vertical AI Unicorn + Call Center Disruption is here

After raising $30M, Mercor is moving towards Unicorn status, and Tier 1 tech support is quickly becoming Tier 1 AI Agents

Mercor is the latest Vertical AI startup to seem to be on a clear trajectory to unicorn status, and the CEO is on a mission to make this a reality, as he said in the tweet below in early September:

While you might think predictions like this might be a bit crazy for a relatively new startup, given their growth rate, it’s honestly not crazy at all. According to Forbes, Mercor already has a revenue run rate in the tens of millions and they’re currently growing at a rate of 50% monthly, oh and they’re profitable.

This is pretty much the definition of the “hockey stick growth” that VCs are looking for when searching for the next unicorn.

So what does Mercor do? In their own words - “We use AI to understand human ability and match talent with the opportunities they're best suited for.”

I’m a big believer that hiring going to be one of the biggest markets for Vertical AI startups and the approach Mercor is taking, having AI interview candidates is one that does allow for real scale.

As we’re finding with AI Agents that are being launched by just about every company under the sun, the leap we’re all taking is replacing humans with AI, and conversing with that AI like you would with humans. Mercor is replacing human interviewers with AI, which might sound impersonal, but as you can see from the tweet above, is being well received by interviewees.

Brenden, the CEO of Mercor went on CNBC and said that AI can hire better than humans can. Once again, a leap to make, and one that might scare some people but given the results Mercor is seeing, it’s clearly not that big of a leap - it’s working, they’re growing like crazy, and I think it says something about the path that other Vertical AI startups are going to take.

So let’s broaden this to Vertical AI as a whole.

What Mercor is showing here is that a role, interviewing, typically done by humans, can be replaced by AI, and actually do a better job than the human counterpart did.

The first thing I think of when it comes to places where AI will likely beat their human counterparts is - call centers. And I know I’m not the first person to make this call but Tier 1 Support is likely going to be replaced by AI, and faster than anyone might expect. If we’re seeing AI replace human interviewers, replacing human technical support staff is a pretty logical path.

Companies like Salesforce are already advertising “AI for Call Centers” and I think it’s safe to say if juggernauts like this are pushing AI for call centers, this is more than a new trend, it will very quickly become the standard.

Back in July, Forrester released a report about Generative AI’s impact on Call Centers and it had a lot of good nuggets that have found their way into more articles than I can keep track of at this point. The TLDR; is that Tier 1 call center workers are very likely going to be replaced by AI Agents, and in relatively short order. But, like most things in life, it’s going to take time to do it right.

If you don’t want to buy the Forrester report, you can get a lot of the good stuff from their podcast.

While I could write about both Mercor and the massive disruption that both the HR space and Call Center space are seeing now, I’m trying my best to keep these issues short(ish), so I’ll end it there.

I’m in San Francisco for SF Tech Week and am excited about all the Vertical AI events ahead, the reality is, it’s almost impossible to go to an event here this week that doesn’t have “AI” in the title and yes, “Agents” in often in there too. I think in many ways we’ll remember this year’s SF tech week as the tipping point for AI in all of our lives.

On that note, time to hop into a Waymo and head to NotionHQ, exciting night ahead. Thanks for reading and as always, remember these six words - the future of AI is Vertical.