Hermes agent maker Nous Research in talks for new funding at $1.5B valuation

Nous Research, the innovative startup known for the open-source Hermes agent, is reportedly in the final stages of securing a new funding round. This round, led by Robot Ventures with notable contributions from Union Square Ventures and other key investors, is expected to value the company at an impressive $1.5 billion. The startup aims to raise a minimum of $75 million, drawing significant interest from a variety of backers. This new funding initiative comes just months after Nous Research celebrated a successful $50 million Series A funding round. While the company has not provided any comments on the matter, sources familiar with the situation indicate that investor enthusiasm remains high. Nous Research was founded in 2023 by a team comprising Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra, and has previously secured a total of $70 million from various investors, including Paradigm and Balaji Srinivasan. In addition to developing the Hermes agent, Nous Research is also building a decentralized network for hardware contributions focused on computation and training. Following the viral success of OpenClaw, another AI agent, Nous Research launched Hermes as a direct competitor. Hermes distinguishes itself with built-in functionalities such as web searching, coding capabilities, and image comprehension, designed to learn and adapt based on user interactions without requiring manual updates. Both Hermes and OpenClaw allow users to automate tasks and interact with their agents through platforms like Telegram and Discord, making them increasingly popular for remote AI management. The open-source nature of Hermes has led to a robust community on GitHub, where it has garnered approximately 214,000 stars and nearly 40,000 forks. Developers can opt to run Hermes on personal desktops or virtual private servers, but a cloud-hosted version is also available, providing a more user-friendly option for those who prefer not to manage installations on their own systems. This hosted service offers various subscription tiers priced between $20 and $200 per month. The anticipated new funding is expected to enhance the development of Hermes products and expand the company's business model significantly.