October 8, 2026 — Nous Research raised $90 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, led by Robot Ventures with backing from NVIDIA, Microsoft’s M12, Samsung, USV, and 1789 Capital. Why it matters: open-source, decentralized AI just got serious backing from the biggest players in centralized AI.
What happened
Nous Research, the Austin, Texas-based developer of open-source foundation models and decentralized AI infrastructure, raised $90 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to FinSMEs. The round was led by Robot Ventures, with participation from NVIDIA, M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund), Samsung, Union Square Ventures, and 1789 Capital.
Details: what the money buys
The company says the capital will fund large-scale GPU cluster acquisitions, expand its distributed machine-learning research workforce across Texas and remote hubs, and accelerate commercialization of its enterprise business-orchestration engines. Nous is best known for its Hermes family of open-source models — widely adopted in the open-weights community — and its pitch is that enterprises can run context-aware assistants that automate multi-step analysis and interface with internal workflows without handing corporate secrets to centralized third parties.
Why it matters
The investor list tells the story: NVIDIA, Microsoft’s venture arm, and Samsung all writing checks to a company whose core thesis is decentralized AI — training and running models outside the hyperscaler data centers. That’s the hedge: the giants want a seat at every table, including the one betting that open, distributed approaches undercut their own cloud moats. For the open-source AI ecosystem, this is one of the largest validations yet that “open weights” is a business model, not just an ideology — a $1.5B price tag on a company that gives away its models.
The subscriber take: everything AI, tested. The Hermes models are genuinely popular with builders — that’s real traction, not just narrative. The question is whether enterprise “decentralized orchestration” can turn downloads into durable revenue. NVIDIA’s check suggests someone thinks so.
FAQ
What is Nous Research?
An Austin-based AI company developing open-source foundation models (notably the Hermes family) and decentralized AI infrastructure for enterprise use.
Who led the $90 million round?
Robot Ventures led; NVIDIA, M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund), Samsung, Union Square Ventures, and 1789 Capital participated.
What will Nous do with the funding?
Acquire large-scale GPU clusters, expand distributed ML research teams, and commercialize its enterprise business-orchestration engines.
Why does decentralized AI matter here?
Nous’s pitch is that businesses can automate complex workflows with open models while keeping corporate data out of centralized third-party systems.
Sources: FinSMEs