Nous Research, the developer of the open-source Hermes Agent, announced a $90 million Series B financing that values the three-year-old company at $1.5 billion. The round was disclosed after TechCrunch previously reported the valuation. The new capital is intended to accelerate the firm’s expansion beyond its developer-focused base toward larger corporate clients.
Lead investor Robot Ventures headed the round, while participants included Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung and 1789 Capital, a firm that lists Donald Trump Jr. as a partner. Combined with prior raises, the financing lifts Nous Research’s cumulative capital to $158 million, underscoring strong venture interest in open-source AI infrastructure.
The Hermes Agent has been cloned more than 24 million times, according to the company, and its usage accounts for roughly 2.5 percent of global AI token consumption. Those figures illustrate the breadth of the open-source model’s reach among developers and individual users, positioning the technology as a significant component of the broader AI ecosystem.
With the fresh funding, Nous Research plans to launch ‘Hermes for Businesses,’ a version of the agent tailored for corporate environments. The offering will enable enterprises to deploy customized AI agents capable of executing multi-step workflows while preserving data privacy and security, addressing a growing demand for controllable, private AI solutions in the workplace.
Revenue estimates indicate the firm generated roughly $36 million in annualized revenue by mid-September 2026 and projects to exceed $100 million before year-end, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. This rapid growth trajectory reflects both the commercial appeal of its open-source platform and the anticipated uptake of its forthcoming enterprise suite.
Analysts view the $1.5 billion valuation as a benchmark for open-source AI projects that can monetize at scale, suggesting that further venture capital may flow toward similar community-driven initiatives. The combination of widespread adoption, token-usage share, and a clear path to enterprise revenue positions Nous Research as a notable player in the evolving AI infrastructure market.