Key Takeaways
- • Nous Research is finalizing a Series B funding round of at least $75 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, led by Robot Ventures with significant participation from USV and other prominent investors.
- • The round occurs less than three months after the company's $50 million Series A, representing a 3x valuation increase and demonstrating rapid investor appetite for open-source AI agent infrastructure.
- • Hermes, the company's flagship open-source agent product, has achieved 214,000 GitHub stars and nearly 40,000 forks, establishing it as a widely-adopted developer platform for autonomous task execution and local agent deployment.
- • Founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra, Nous Research has now raised a cumulative $195 million across funding rounds, positioning it among the most heavily capitalized open-source AI infrastructure startups.
- • Hermes differentiates from competing agents through built-in "skills" including web search, coding, and image understanding, with autonomous capability learning and language models optimized for coding and mathematical tasks.
Summary
Nous Research, the developer-focused AI startup behind the open-source Hermes agent, is in final stages of closing a Series B funding round valuing the company at $1.5 billion, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the transaction. The company is raising at least $75 million, with Robot Ventures leading the round and receiving significant co-investment from Union Square Ventures (USV) and other institutional backers.
The funding round demonstrates substantial investor momentum behind the startup's open-source agent infrastructure. Nous Research raised its Series A of $50 million less than three months prior, making the new round a notable acceleration that values the company at approximately 3x the previous round's valuation. Including this Series B, the company has now raised a cumulative $195 million, bringing total historical capital from investors including Paradigm, North Island Ventures, OSS Capital, and Balaji Srinivasan.
Hermes has emerged as a competitive open-source agent platform positioned against similar tools like Openclaw. The product enables users to automate tasks on local machines or remote servers, with developers able to interact through integrations with messaging platforms including Telegram and Discord. A key differentiator is Hermes' built-in capabilities package, which includes web search, coding assistance, and image understanding, alongside language models specialized for coding and mathematical operations. The platform's architecture includes automatic skill learning based on user behavior, enabling agents to expand functionality without manual intervention.
Developer adoption has accelerated rapidly. Hermes has accumulated approximately 214,000 GitHub stars and nearly 40,000 forks, establishing broad traction within the developer community. The platform supports both local desktop deployment and virtual private server configurations, appealing to users seeking remote, persistent agent execution.
Nous Research was founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra. The company declined to comment on the funding round, while Robot Ventures and USV did not respond to requests for comment.
The funding round demonstrates substantial investor momentum behind the startup's open-source agent infrastructure. Nous Research raised its Series A of $50 million less than three months prior, making the new round a notable acceleration that values the company at approximately 3x the previous round's valuation. Including this Series B, the company has now raised a cumulative $195 million, bringing total historical capital from investors including Paradigm, North Island Ventures, OSS Capital, and Balaji Srinivasan.
Hermes has emerged as a competitive open-source agent platform positioned against similar tools like Openclaw. The product enables users to automate tasks on local machines or remote servers, with developers able to interact through integrations with messaging platforms including Telegram and Discord. A key differentiator is Hermes' built-in capabilities package, which includes web search, coding assistance, and image understanding, alongside language models specialized for coding and mathematical operations. The platform's architecture includes automatic skill learning based on user behavior, enabling agents to expand functionality without manual intervention.
Developer adoption has accelerated rapidly. Hermes has accumulated approximately 214,000 GitHub stars and nearly 40,000 forks, establishing broad traction within the developer community. The platform supports both local desktop deployment and virtual private server configurations, appealing to users seeking remote, persistent agent execution.
Nous Research was founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra. The company declined to comment on the funding round, while Robot Ventures and USV did not respond to requests for comment.
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