Nous Research has raised a $90 million Series B funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, confirming its entry into the unicorn club and pushing its total funding to $158 million. The three-year-old startup is known for developing the open-source Hermes agent, which has been cloned over 24 million times and accounts for approximately 2.5 percent of global AI token usage according to company estimates.
The Series B round was led by Robot Ventures, with additional participation from high-profile backers including Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung, and 1789 Capital. Nous Research plans to use the newly acquired capital to fuel its expansion into the enterprise sector through the upcoming launch of "Hermes for Businesses," a product designed to help companies deploy customized artificial intelligence agents for secure multi-step workflows.
The company has experienced rapid financial growth alongside its developer popularity, reaching roughly $36 million in annualized revenue by mid-September 2026. Leadership anticipates surpassing $100 million in annualized revenue before the end of 2026 as it scales its commercial enterprise offerings. This major funding milestone matters because it underscores the surging commercial viability and investor backing of open-source artificial intelligence agent startups aiming at enterprise automation.