Nous Research Hits $1.5B Valuation, Launches Hermes AI Agents for Businesses
Nous Research raised $90M Series B at a $1.5B valuation and launched "Hermes for Businesses" — open-source AI agents for multi-step enterprise workflows with private, secure deployment.
The open-source agent goes enterprise
Nous Research, the startup behind the open-source Hermes Agent, has raised a $90 million Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation, confirming earlier reporting. The round was led by Robot Ventures, with participation from Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung, and 1789 Capital.
The new financing brings the three-year-old startup's total funding to $158 million. The company was at roughly $36 million in annualized revenue by mid-September 2026 and expects to pass $100 million before the end of 2026.
Hermes is bigger than you think
Popular among developers and individuals, the open-source Hermes Agent has been cloned more than 24 million times, driving roughly 2.5% of global AI token usage, according to the startup's estimates. The capital will fund Nous Research's push into the enterprise sector with "Hermes for Businesses" — letting companies deploy customized AI agents that handle multi-step workflows while keeping their data private and secure.
That pitch — open-source core, paid enterprise deployment — directly collides with enterprise software economics. Nous can give Hermes away while charging for hosting, management, security, support, and business deployment.
Why it matters beyond the funding
Nous represents a new enterprise AI playbook. Instead of selling seats or tokens, it sells operational control: your agents, your data, your infrastructure, with open-source transparency underneath. For regulated industries that cannot send data to a closed API, this model removes the biggest adoption blocker.
The investor roster reinforces the strategy. Nvidia and Samsung backing an open-source agent company is a bet that the compute and device layers win when agents run everywhere, not just inside one cloud. An open model ecosystem gives hardware vendors a neutral platform to support — and Nous the distribution of 24 million existing developer touchpoints.
What this means for your business
- Open source is now a procurement advantage. If compliance or security reviews stall your AI adoption, an open-source agent you can inspect and self-host may clear the bar faster than a closed alternative. - Keep your data where it is. "Hermes for Businesses" is designed around private deployment. Ask every AI vendor how your data stays yours — the ones that answer clearly win. - Watch the $36M to $100M jump. Nous expects to nearly triple revenue in under four months. That growth rate tells you enterprise demand for controllable AI agents is real and immediate. - Developer traction predicts enterprise wins. 24 million clones means your engineers probably already know Hermes. Adoption from the bottom up beats top-down rollouts.