Nous Research Raises $90M at $1.5B Valuation for Hermes

Nous Research, the three-year-old startup behind the widely used open-source Hermes Agent, has finalized a $90 million Series B funding round. This latest injection of capital values the company at $1.5 billion and brings its total funding to date to $158 million. Robot Ventures led the investment round, which also drew participation from major industry players and venture firms including Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung, and 1789 Capital.

The startup's open-source technology has already achieved significant traction among developers. The Hermes Agent has been cloned more than 24 million times, and the company estimates that its models drive approximately 2.5% of global AI token usage. This developer adoption is translating into rapid financial growth. Nous Research reportedly reached an annualized revenue of roughly $36 million by mid-September 2026 and projects that its revenue will surpass $100 million before the end of 2026.

With this new capital, Nous Research is launching "Hermes for Businesses" to target the enterprise sector. This new offering allows corporate clients to deploy customized AI agents capable of managing complex, multi-step workflows. Crucially for enterprise practitioners, the platform is designed to execute these advanced tasks while maintaining strict data privacy and security.

For AI practitioners and enterprise developers, this development bridges the gap between highly popular open-source models and the stringent security requirements of corporate environments. Instead of relying solely on proprietary, closed-source ecosystems, developers can now leverage the familiar Hermes architecture to build secure, specialized agents that automate complex business operations without compromising proprietary data.