Nous Research has secured $90 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to $158 million. While the company did not disclose its valuation, reports suggest it has reached $1.5 billion. The round was led by Robot Ventures, with participation from Nvidia, M12, Samsung, Y Combinator, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and 1789 Capital.
Founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra, the startup is known for its open-source Hermes Agent. The software, released under an MIT license in February 2026, has reportedly been cloned over 24 million times. According to internal estimates, the agent accounts for approximately 2.5% of global AI token usage.
The new capital will support the development of Hermes for Businesses, a platform designed to offer private AI deployment, custom model selection, and data ownership for corporate clients. The company currently reports a $36 million annual run rate. Additionally, Nous Research plans to launch a mobile application, though no specific release date has been provided.
The AI agent market is projected to grow significantly, with Grand View Research estimating a valuation of $182.9 billion by 2033. Several other startups have also raised capital in this sector, including Dust, Bespoke Labs, telli, and Stuut, which recently secured $52.5 million in Series B funding.
