Open source projects draw equity-free funding from corporates, startups, and even VCs
A dearth of funding for vital open source tech is leading to a swathe of support from startups, corporations, and even VC firms.
A dearth of funding for vital open source technologies is leading to a swath of support from startups, unicorns, corporations, and even venture capital firms.
Last year, Bloomberg launched its FOSS (free and open source software) fund, committing up to $90,000 per year to various projects. And in October, Indian financial services company Zerodha launched a similar initiative dubbed FLOSS/fund, pledging $1 million annually to open source projects. The reason? “A significant portion of our success and growth is owed to FOSS,” Zerodha CTO Kailash Nadh said at the time.
“It goes without saying that this holds true for nearly every technology company founded in the last decade, whether it is publicly acknowledged or not,” Nadh added.
While there is no shortage of companies building businesses and raising money off the back of open source software, not every community-driven project lends itself to becoming a commercial entity. Some open source tools are more akin to Lego blocks: key components of a software stack, for sure, but difficult to monetize directly — particularly in the early days.
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