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

Nous Research, the startup behind the open-source Hermes AI agent, is finalizing a new funding round led by Robot Ventures at a $1.5 billion valuation, raising at least $75 million. This round comes less than three months after its $50 million Series A. The company, founded in 2023, has raised a total of $70 million prior to this round from investors including Paradigm and Balaji Srinivasan. Hermes, an open-source agent that can automate tasks and run locally or on a cloud-hosted version, has gained a massive following on GitHub with roughly 214,000 stars. Unlike some competitors, Hermes shipped with built-in "skills" like web search and coding, and is designed to learn from user usage. Sources say the new funding will be used to expand Hermes products and its business model.