Hermes agent maker Nous Research nears $75 million at a $1.5 billion valuation
An open-source agent with 214,000 GitHub stars and a $20-to-$200 hosted tier is about to be worth ten figures. Distribution first, monetization second, unicorn third.
Photo: Miniature figures on a blue computer chip backgrou. // GaaS News- Nous Research is finalizing a funding round of at least $75 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported; the round, led by Robot Ventures with Union Square Ventures participating, is not yet closed and the company declined to comment.
- The new round would roughly match the $70 million Nous had raised in total from Paradigm, Robot Ventures, North Island Ventures, OSS Capital, and Balaji Srinivasan.
- Its open-source Hermes agent has roughly 214,000 GitHub stars, and the hosted version sells at $20 to $200 per month.
The agent unicorn class of 2026 keeps growing. Nous Research, the company behind the open-source Hermes agent, is finalizing a funding round of at least $75 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported. The usual caveats apply and should be stated plainly: the round is still being finalized, the reporting traces to TechCrunch alone, and the company declined to comment.
One round to match all prior funding
The deal, led by Robot Ventures with significant participation from Union Square Ventures, would roughly equal everything Nous has raised to date: about $70 million total from Paradigm, Robot Ventures, North Island Ventures, OSS Capital, and Balaji Srinivasan. Founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra, the company built its position the open way. Hermes carries roughly 214,000 GitHub stars and nearly 40,000 forks, and the hosted version monetizes at $20 to $200 a month.
The valuation math of open agents
What investors are pricing here is a distribution thesis: give the agent away, let the star count become the moat, and charge for the hosted convenience. It is a different bet than Lyzr's enterprise agent-run pricing or Prime Intellect's train-your-own pitch, and it slots into a quarter where agent-adjacent capital keeps concentrating, from MiniMax's $2 billion raise to the buyback fight over Manus. A $1.5 billion price on a company whose core product is free says the market now values agent mindshare the way it once valued social network users: get the developers first, and the revenue model can be version two.