Nous Research
Open-Source AI
- Valuation
- ~$1B(2025)
- Total Funding
- $50M+
- Profit Status
- Research-stage
- Employees
- ~30
About Nous Research
Nous Research is an applied AI research organization focused on open-source large language models, decentralized training, and human-aligned agents. Known for its widely used Hermes model series (fine-tuned open models), it also pioneers distributed training methods like DisTrO and Psyche that let models be trained across the internet rather than in a single data center. Nous has a strong following in the open-source and crypto-adjacent AI communities.
Company History
Founded 2023 as a collective building open-source models, Nous Research gained prominence for its Hermes fine-tunes of Llama and other base models. It pioneered decentralized and bandwidth-efficient distributed training (DisTrO, then the Psyche network), demonstrating large-model pretraining across geographically distributed hardware. In 2025 Nous raised a reported $50M round led by Paradigm at around a $1B valuation, cementing its role as a leading open-source and decentralized AI lab.
Company Timeline
3 milestones- 2023Founded; released early Hermes open-source fine-tunes
- 2024Introduced DisTrO for bandwidth-efficient distributed training
- 2025$50M round led by Paradigm at ~$1B valuation; Psyche network launched
Funding Rounds
2 rounds| Date | Round | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Seed | $5.2M | Distributed Global, OSS Capital |
| 2025 | Series A | $50M | Paradigm, ~$1B valuation |
Products & Services
4- Hermes model series
- DisTrO / Psyche (distributed training)
- Nous Chat
- Forge API
People & ecosystem
Key People
- Jeffrey Quesnelle (CEO, co-founder)
- Karan Malhotra (co-founder)
Key Investors
- Paradigm
- North Island Ventures
- Distributed Global