And this is why we’ve seen a steady rise in funding initiatives come to the fore. This includes reactive programs, such as 2022’s Big Tech-driven $30 million pledge to bolster open source security in the wake of the Log4Shell security flaw that wreaked havoc on the software supply chain. But we’re also seeing more proactive efforts, driven from all corners of industry.

Silicon Valley VC Sequoia Capital launched an open source fellowship in 2023 to support project maintainers with equity-free capital to cover living expenses for up to 12 months. Its inaugural fellow was Colombian software developer Sebastián Ramírez Montaño, creator of FastAPI, an open source web framework for building APIs.