Nous Research raises $75M+ at $1.5B valuation
Original: Hermes agent maker Nous Research in talks for new funding at $1.5B valuation
Why This Matters
Rapid unicorn valuation growth signals strong investor demand for open-source AI agent platforms.
Nous Research, the startup behind open-source AI agent Hermes, is finalizing a new funding round of at least $75 million led by Robot Ventures with participation from USV, at a $1.5 billion valuation — less than three months after its $50M Series A.
Nous Research, founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra, is closing a new funding round of at least $75 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to three sources familiar with the deal. Robot Ventures is leading the round, with significant participation from USV and other investors. The company had previously raised a total of $70 million from backers including Paradigm, Robot Ventures, North Island Ventures, OSS Capital, and Balaji Srinivasan. The new round follows its $50 million Series A announced just three months ago.
Nous Research is best known for Hermes, an open-source AI agent that competes with tools like Openclaw. Hermes features built-in skills such as web search, coding, and image understanding, and is designed to automatically learn and build new skills from user interactions. The project has accumulated approximately 214,000 GitHub stars and nearly 40,000 forks. A cloud-hosted version is available at $20–$200 per month. Sources indicate the new funding will be used to expand Hermes products and its broader business model.