Nous Research lines up $75M raise at $1.5B Hermes valuation

Nous Research, the company behind the open-source Hermes AI agent, is in advanced talks to secure at least $75 million in new funding at a $1.5 billion valuation. Multiple reports indicate the round is led by Robot Ventures, with significant participation from Union Square Ventures and several undisclosed additional investors. The financing would mark Nous Research’s largest round to date and push the company firmly into unicorn territory.

The fresh capital is expected to be used to scale Nous Research’s engineering organization and broaden the Hermes agent’s integration ecosystem for enterprise and developer workflows. Founded in 2023, the company has previously raised around $70 million across a $20 million seed round in 2024 and a $50 million Series A in April 2025, backed by investors such as Paradigm and other crypto and AI-focused funds. Hermes, which has rapidly grown in popularity as an open-source autonomous AI agent, has helped position Nous Research as a notable player in the race to commercialize AI agents, and the new funding at a $1.5 billion valuation would further consolidate its status among leading foundation-model and agent infrastructure startups.