By Shashank Nayar
Publication Date: 2026-08-19 20:45:00
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Existing investor General Catalyst is in discussions to lead a financing round for Mercor at a $20-billion valuation, doubling its October valuation of $10 billion.
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Nvidia paid Mercor millions of dollars last quarter to source specialized human-expert data for its open-source Nemotron models.
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The potential deal aligns with Nvidia’s aggressive investment surge, which reached $18.6 billion in the quarter ending in April.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) is in discussions to back the artificial intelligence data-labeling startup Mercor in a new funding round that would value the three-year-old firm at $20 billion.
Venture capital firm General Catalyst, an existing backer of Mercor, has been in talks to lead the investment round, according to a report published Wednesday by The Information. The proposed terms and precise size of Nvidia’s potential contribution could not be determined.
NVDA stock eased 1% at the close on Wednesday.
Nvidia’s Open-Source AI Capabilities
The potential investment underscores Nvidia’s growing commitment to developing its open-source Nemotron AI models, designed to rival top open-weight systems globally. While Mercor historically derived the majority of its revenue from closed-source AI developers such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, its business…

