Nous Research, the artificial intelligence startup recognized for developing the widely adopted open-source Hermes agent, has officially closed a $90 million Series B funding round at a valuation of $1.5 billion. The completion of this financing confirms earlier reporting by TechCrunch regarding the startup’s high-stakes fundraising talks. The significant capital injection underscores the booming investor appetite for open-source infrastructure and enterprise-grade autonomous agents in an increasingly crowded artificial intelligence marketplace.
The Series B round was led by Robot Ventures, with participation from a notable roster of strategic and institutional backers. Among the participants are chipmaking giant Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung, and 1789 Capital, a venture firm where Donald Trump Jr. serves as a partner. This latest influx of capital brings the total funding raised by the three-year-old startup to $158 million since its inception.
Explosive Developer Adoption and Massive Global Reach
The core engine behind Nous Research’s meteoric rise is the Hermes agent, an open-source AI assistant that has captured the imagination of developers, researchers, and individual users worldwide. According to internal estimates provided by the startup, the Hermes agent has been cloned more than 24 million times across various development platforms and repositories.
This staggering level of grassroots adoption has translated into substantial real-world usage. Nous Research estimates that workflows powered by or derived from its Hermes architecture currently drive roughly 2.5% of all global artificial intelligence token usage. This metric places the young startup among the more influential foundational influences in the daily processing volume of generative AI systems globally, demonstrating that open-source models can compete effectively with proprietary systems maintained by big tech conglomerates.
Entering the Enterprise Arena with Customized AI Solutions
With the fresh capital secured from its Series B round, Nous Research plans to accelerate its strategic expansion into the highly lucrative enterprise sector. The centerpiece of this commercial push is an upcoming initiative tentatively known as "Hermes for Businesses."
This enterprise-focused offering is designed to allow corporations and large organizations to deploy customized, highly adaptable AI agents capable of handling complex, multi-step workflows. As businesses increasingly seek to automate administrative, analytical, and operational tasks, security and data privacy remain paramount concerns. Nous Research aims to address these anxieties by providing tailored deployments that keep corporate data private and secure within internal environments, shielding sensitive proprietary information from leaking into public training datasets.
Rapid Revenue Growth Pointing Toward a Breakout Year
The funding announcement arrives alongside impressive financial milestones that highlight Nous Research’s transition from a research-heavy open-source project into a commercially viable enterprise powerhouse. According to a recent report by The Wall Street Journal, the startup reached approximately $36 million in annualized revenue by mid-September 2026.
Looking ahead, management at Nous Research anticipates that this financial momentum will only accelerate. Company leadership projects that annualized revenue will comfortably surpass the $100 million threshold before the end of 2026. By bridging the gap between open-source community collaboration and high-margin enterprise software sales, Nous Research is positioning itself as a formidable competitor in the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence automation and enterprise software deployment.
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