$510M Round! Hermes Maker Nous Research Reportedly Raising at $1.5B Valuation
On July 13, 2026, TechCrunch cited people familiar with the matter that Nous Research, the open-source AI startup best known for Hermes Agent, is in the middle of raising at least $75 million (about RMB 510 million / 5.1亿 yuan) in new funding. If the round closes as planned, the company would be valued at roughly $1.5 billion (about RMB 10.2 billion / 102亿元).
The reported round would be led by Robot Ventures, with participation from Union Square Ventures (USV) and other investors. At the time of reporting the deal was still being finalized, so the final amount, valuation, and investor list could still shift. Nous Research declined to comment, and neither Robot Ventures nor USV had responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
This post unpacks what we know, how it fits into Nous Research’s short history, and why it matters for anyone building with Hermes Agent.
From research community to unicorn in two years
Nous Research traces its roots back to a 2022 open-source AI research community and was formally incorporated in 2023. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and focuses on open-source large language models, AI agents, and distributed AI infrastructure.
Before this new round, Nous Research had already raised roughly $65–70 million in total, according to the report:
| Round | Timing | Amount | Lead / Key investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed / early-stage | 2024 – early 2025 | ~$20M | Distributed Global, North Island Ventures, Delphi Digital |
| Series A | April 2025 | $50M | Paradigm, at a $1B post-money valuation |
| Reported new round | July 2026 | ≥$75M | Robot Ventures (reported), USV |
The April 2025 Paradigm round already pushed Nous into unicorn territory at a $1 billion valuation. The reported $1.5 billion valuation would represent a 50% step up in roughly 15 months — a notable mark of investor confidence in the open-agent stack.
Other backers listed in company profiles include Robot Ventures, OSS Capital, and Balaji Srinivasan, according to Crunchbase data.
Why Hermes Agent is the center of attention
Hermes Agent is Nous Research’s most visible product. Unlike a simple chatbot, it is designed to run locally on a user’s device or on a VPS, integrate with messaging apps like Telegram and Discord, and handle tasks such as:
- Web search and browsing
- Code generation and editing
- Image understanding
- Long-term memory and adaptive learning
- Automated task execution via built-in skills
The timing helped. In late January 2026, OpenClaw — another open-source, locally runnable AI agent project — gained widespread developer attention. About four weeks later, on February 25, 2026, Nous Research launched Hermes as a direct competitor. Both projects emphasize local execution and autonomy, but Hermes added a pre-built skill system so users could invoke tools for complex workflows out of the box.
OpenRouter data from May 9, 2026 showed Hermes Agent consuming 271 billion tokens in a single day, ranking first on the platform ahead of OpenClaw and other competitors. On GitHub, the Hermes Agent repository has accumulated approximately 214,000 stars and 40,000 forks, making it one of the most watched open-agent projects.
The business model question: open source needs revenue too
Nous Research is not the only open-source AI company trying to convert developer enthusiasm into sustainable revenue. The reported plan is to use the new capital to expand Hermes product capabilities and explore new business models.
The company already offers a cloud-hosted version of Hermes, priced between $20 and $200 per month depending on the tier. That lowers the barrier for users who do not want to self-host, while preserving the open-source core for developers who prefer full control.
This is the central challenge for the broader open-source AI movement:
- Pros: Open source drives rapid adoption, community contributions, and trust.
- Cons: Converting free users into paying customers is hard, and cloud hosting margins can be thin compared to closed-source API businesses.
For Hermes users, the milestone is mostly good news. More funding generally means more full-time engineers, better documentation, faster releases, and more polished tooling. The risk is that commercial priorities could eventually diverge from the open-source community’s interests — though that tension is common across every successful open-source project.
The team behind the project
Nous Research was co-founded by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra. Quesnelle serves as co-founder and CTO. He holds a master’s in computer science from the University of Michigan and previously worked as chief engineer at blockchain infrastructure company Eden Network and as software development director at Intrepid Control Systems, an automotive networking and embedded systems testing tools vendor.
The team has a long history of contributing to open-source AI communities, with work spanning LLM training, fine-tuning, and AI tooling.
What this means for Hermes developers
A $1.5 billion valuation does not directly change how Hermes Agent runs on your laptop. But it does change the context around it:
- Signal of staying power. A well-funded backer roster reduces the risk of the project suddenly stalling for lack of resources.
- More talent and infrastructure. Larger rounds usually lead to hiring across engineering, research, and developer relations.
- Closer scrutiny. As the project scales, decisions about licensing, pricing, and open-core boundaries will face more community attention.
- Competitive pressure. Rivals like OpenClaw and newer agent frameworks will not stand still. The race is on to build the most capable, privacy-respecting, and developer-friendly agent stack.
If you are currently using Hermes Agent, the best thing to do is keep using it, keep reporting issues, and keep an eye on how the product roadmap evolves. Funding is a means, not an end. The real test is whether Nous Research can turn the momentum into a durable platform.
Key takeaways
- Reported round: at least $75M (~RMB 510M), led by Robot Ventures with USV participation.
- Reported valuation: $1.5B (~RMB 10.2B), up from $1B in April 2025.
- Context: Hermes Agent is one of the fastest-growing open-source AI agent projects, with strong OpenRouter usage and a large GitHub following.
- Open question: Can Nous Research translate open-source popularity into a sustainable commercial business?
- For users: More resources are likely coming, but the community should watch how the open-source / commercial balance evolves.
We will update this post as more details about the funding are confirmed.
Sources: TechCrunch (as cited by 智东西/Toutiao), GitHub, OpenRouter.