Hermes agent maker Nous Research in talks for new funding at $1.5B valuation
The company is raising at least $75 million, led by Robot, with significant participation from USV and other prominent investors.
Nous Research, the startup behind the open-source Hermes agent, is finalizing a new round of funding led by Robot Ventures, with significant participation from USV and other prominent investors at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to three sources with knowledge of the deal. The company is raising at least $75 million, and fielded a high level of interest from investors, according to the people. The new round is coming less than three months after Nous announced its $50 million Series A .
Nous Research declined to comment. USV and Robot Ventures didn’t respond to our request for comment.
The company was founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, Shivani Mitra. Before this round, it had raised a total of $70 million in funding from investors including Paradigm, Robot Ventures, North Island Ventures, OSS Capital, and Balaji Srinivasan, according to Crunchbase.
Besides Hermes development, Nous Research has a decentralize network to contribute hardware for compute and training. Plus, it has released language models focused coding and math .
Weeks after Openclaw’s agent went viral, Nous Research released its own competitor called Hermes. OpenClaw is an agent that runs locally on a PC and can perform tasks on behalf of the user. One key difference is that Hermes shipped with built-in “skills,” such as web search, coding and image understanding. Plus, it was designed to automatically learn from people’s usage and build more skills without any intervention required.
Just like Openclaw, users can automate tasks with Hermes and chat with these agents or receive messages from them in apps like Telegram and Discord. These tools have become increasingly popular as they allow users to run their AI agents remotely and around the clock.
Open-source and widely adopted, Hermes has amassed a massive following on GitHub, boasting roughly 214,000 stars and nearly 40,000 forks. Developers can run Hermes on a desktop or on a virtual private server.
But Nous Research also offers a cloud-hosted version , which some users may find to be more user-friendly, avoiding any setting up on their own machines. The hosted version is available via various paid tiers ranging from $20-$200 a month.
Sources say the new funding will help to expand Hermes products and business model further.
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Key takeaways
- Nous Research has attracted significant investors, indicating confidence in the innovation potential of AI.
- The Hermes agent stands out for its integrated skills and autonomous learning, reflecting the demand for adaptive automation.
- Nous Research's monetization strategy could serve as a model for other Brazilian startups.
Editorial analysis
The recent funding round for Nous Research, valuing the company at $1.5 billion, underscores the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in Brazil and globally. The popularity of the Hermes agent, which stands out for its integrated skills and autonomous learning, reflects an increasing demand for tools that not only automate tasks but also adapt to user behavior. This is particularly relevant in a landscape where process automation is increasingly valued by businesses and developers.
Moreover, the fact that Nous Research has attracted significant investors like Robot Ventures and USV indicates a growing confidence in the potential for innovation within the AI sector. For Brazil, where the startup ecosystem is expanding, this movement may inspire other companies to seek similar solutions, fostering a more competitive and innovative environment. The ability to create products that meet specific market needs can be a crucial differentiator for Brazilian startups.
Another point to watch is Nous Research's monetization strategy, which offers a hosted version of Hermes at various price tiers. This could serve as a model for other startups looking to balance accessibility and profitability. As more companies adopt AI solutions, the need for services that are both robust and user-friendly will become increasingly evident.
Finally, the evolution of Hermes in an open-source context and its popularity on GitHub highlight the importance of collaboration and knowledge sharing in the tech field. This approach can stimulate the creation of a vibrant community around AI development in Brazil, promoting innovations that can benefit not only developers but also end-users. What we should look for next is how Nous Research plans to expand its offerings and position itself in a constantly evolving market.
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