Startup profile · funding coverage
Nous Research funding, valuation and investors
Open-source AI lab behind the Hermes agent and distributed model-training infrastructure.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Series B
$90M · October 7, 2026
Latest known valuation
$1.5B
Series B · October 7, 2026
Total disclosed equity funding
$140M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
private
series b · Austin, Texas
Investors in latest funding
Lead: Robot Ventures
Other: NVIDIA , M12 , Samsung , Union Square Ventures , Menlo Ventures
Overview
Nous Research develops open-source AI models, agents and distributed training systems. Its Hermes family targets developers and, after the 2026 Series B, enterprise users seeking more control over models and data. The company raised a $50 million Series A led by Paradigm in April 2025 and a $90 million Series B led by Robot Ventures in October 2026.
Why Nous Research is interesting
Nous combines open-source model development with an enterprise agent product. Its Series B tests whether popularity among developers can become durable corporate revenue without abandoning open distribution.
Product & use cases
Hermes is an open-source AI agent and model family. Nous also develops Psyche, a distributed training system intended to coordinate compute across multiple participants.
- Deploying customizable AI agents inside enterprise environments
- Running open models without dependence on one proprietary API vendor
- Distributed training experiments through Psyche
Key facts
- October 7, 2026: raised $90M Series B at a $1.5B valuation, taking total funding to about $158M.
- The company said Hermes recorded more than 22 million downloads after its February 2026 launch; this is a company-reported adoption figure.
- April 25, 2025: raised $50M Series A led by Paradigm.
Funding history (newest first)
Series B
2026-10-07 $90M Valuation: $1.5BSeries A
2025-04-25 $50M Valuation: $1B token valuation (reported)- Paradigm (lead)
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Nous Research's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: A large developer audience around Hermes and open-source distribution can lower adoption friction, while Psyche provides a differentiated distributed-training narrative.
Nous must convert downloads into enterprise revenue while competing with better-capitalized model providers and other open-weight ecosystems. Control, deployment flexibility and community adoption are advantages; reliability, support and model economics will determine enterprise retention.
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OpenClaw direct
Open-source agent competitor with strong developer adoption.
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OpenAI alternative
Proprietary models and agent products with broader enterprise distribution.
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Anthropic alternative
Proprietary enterprise models and coding agents.
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Mistral AI direct
Open-weight model developer serving enterprise customers.
Industries
Market / IPO context
Editorial / static context — not a live quote.
Related funding articles
Venture Capital Tracker pieces that cover Nous Research's financing or category context.
FAQs about Nous Research
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