Vendor profile · Directory · Managed service
iMerit
A managed data-services company that pairs employed specialist teams with its Scholars expert network — and, since 2026, sits inside EXL.
| Model | Managed service + Ango Hub platform + Scholars expert network |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | San Jose, CA (delivery hubs in India) |
| Pricing | Not published — managed programs, sales-led (some rates surface via AWS Marketplace listings) |
| Website | imerit.ai |
What iMerit does
iMerit was founded in 2012 by Radha and Dipak Basu and is headquartered in San Jose, California, with major delivery hubs in Kolkata and Bengaluru. It provides managed annotation, enrichment and evaluation across computer vision, NLP and generative AI, run on its proprietary Ango Hub platform.
Its Scholars program fields credentialed specialists — physicians, linguists, engineers, scientists — for expert data work in healthcare, finance and autonomy. In June 2026 EXL (Nasdaq: EXLS) agreed to acquire iMerit for up to $310M, and the deal closed in 2026 per company profiles.
Strengths
- Employed-specialist model with reported 91% expert retention
- Deep regulated-sector references (healthcare, finance, AV)
- Scholars network gives a credible expert tier above generalist labeling
Considerations
- No published pricing
- Now part of EXL — buyers should confirm roadmap and team continuity in diligence
- Enterprise orientation; small projects are a poor fit
Other managed services in the directory
- Scale AI — The largest enterprise data engine: annotation, RLHF, evaluation and red-teaming delivered as managed programs for frontier labs and governments.
- Appen — The category’s longest-running operator: a publicly traded managed data provider with a crowd of over one million contributors in 170+ countries.
- Surge AI — The bootstrapped quality maximalist: over $1 billion in 2024 revenue with no outside capital, built on credentialed experts rather than crowd volume.
- Sama — The original impact-sourcing annotation company: a Certified B Corp running managed programs with its own full-time workforce in Kenya and Uganda.
- CloudFactory — A managed-workforce company: trained analyst teams in Nepal and Kenya delivering annotation and data processing as a consumption-priced service.
- Cogito Tech — A US-registered managed annotation company whose India-based workforce and specialist consultants concentrate on healthcare, legal and financial AI data.
- Label Your Data — A managed annotation service that does the rarest thing in this market: publishes its per-unit prices, with no minimum order.
- Zilo AI — A Bangalore staffing-and-annotation firm with a distinct model: its annotators work inside the platform you already use, instead of selling you theirs.
- TELUS Digital — The telecom-owned data giant: TELUS’s digital arm runs one of the world’s largest AI data operations, built on the $935M acquisition of Lionbridge AI.
Frequently asked questions
What does iMerit do?
A managed data-services company that pairs employed specialist teams with its Scholars expert network — and, since 2026, sits inside EXL.
How much does iMerit cost?
iMerit does not publish pricing (not published — managed programs, sales-led (some rates surface via aws marketplace listings)). Any figure quoted by third parties is an estimate; budget discovery requires engaging the vendor directly.
Who is iMerit best for?
Regulated-industry programs — medical imaging, financial documents, autonomy — that need employed specialists and an audit trail rather than a crowd.
Who should not use iMerit?
Self-serve or small pilots; this is an enterprise services engagement with a sales cycle.
Sources
- iMerit Technology profile — YesPress (2026)
- Inside India’s quiet new export: human intelligence for artificial minds — Mint via iMerit press (2025)
Facts on this page were drawn from the public sources above, checked November 2026. If you spot an error, tell us at the corrections address in the footer — we fix sourced errors and note the change.
Profile last updated: November 8, 2026 · How we write profiles · Corrections: contact@bestdataannotation.com