Nous Research confirms it hit $1.5B valuation, launches AI agents for business users

Nous Research has raised a $90 million Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation, confirming earlier TechCrunch reporting. The round was led by Robot Ventures, with participation from Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung, and 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner. Total funding for the three-year-old startup now stands at $158 million.

The company develops the open source Hermes Agent, which it says has been cloned more than 24 million times and drives roughly 2.5% of global AI token usage, based on its own estimates.

The new capital will fund a push into the enterprise sector through Hermes for Businesses, an offering that lets companies deploy customized AI agents capable of handling multi-step workflows while keeping their data private and secure.

On the financial side, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nous was at roughly $36 million in annualized revenue by mid-September 2026 and expects to pass $100 million before the end of 2026.

Why it matters: The enterprise launch extends Hermes from individual developers to companies that need agents for multi-step workflows with private data handling. The $90 million round, backed by Nvidia and Samsung among others, funds that expansion, and the company says it expects annualized revenue to more than double by the end of 2026.