📰 Key Takeaway

This is a Nous Research news summary, unrelated to any memory system, here’s the direct translation:

Open-source AI agent developer Nous Research has closed a $90 million Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation, confirming earlier TechCrunch reporting. The round was led by Robot Ventures, with participation from Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung, and 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner. That brings the three-year-old startup’s total funding to $158 million. The company’s open-source Hermes Agent has become popular with developers and individual users, with over 24 million clones to date — accounting for roughly 2.5% of global AI token usage, by the company’s own estimate. The fresh capital will fuel Nous Research’s push into the enterprise market with “Hermes for Businesses,” letting companies deploy custom AI agents that handle multi-step workflows while keeping data private and secure. Per the Wall Street Journal, Nous’s annualized revenue was around $36 million as of mid-September 2026, and the company expects to cross $100 million by the end of the year.

💬 JudyAI Lab Take

Nous Research’s $90M Series B at a $1.5B valuation is another proof point that open-source AI agents can build a mature business model.

What stands out: Hermes Agent has been cloned over 24 million times, with the company estimating it accounts for 2.5% of global AI token usage. That tells you open-sourcing something doesn’t mean giving up on monetization — if anything, it can be the path: seed the developer ecosystem first, then convert with an enterprise-tier offering. This round pulled in Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures and other institutional backers, which signals the market is buying into the “open-source core + enterprise value-add layer” structure. $36M in annualized revenue, with $100M expected by year-end, shows open licensing and scaled revenue aren’t mutually exclusive.

For AI builders, it’s worth asking: does whatever open-source or free tool you’re running have an enterprise-grade layer you could build on top of it?

📅 Source Info

🔗 Further Reading