20VC: Mercor CPO on Revenue Concentration from Frontier Labs | Why Large Enterprise is Scared to Partner with Frontier Labs | Why Small Specialised Models is the Future with Osvald Nitski

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch · Jul 25, 2026 · 1h

Osvald Nitski is the Chief Product Officer at Mercor, the AI-training and expert-data marketplace powering frontier-model development. Mercor last raised a $350 million Series C at a $10 billion valuation, and is reportedly in discussions for a new round at a $20 billion valuation. Mercor crossed $2BN in ARR in June; doubling from $1 billion in only four months.

AGENDA:

00:04:00 Will open-source models kill the data-provider business?

00:07:00 Are enterprises still terrified of working with frontier model companies?

00:09:00 Does every company end up with its own specialised AI model?…