Ollama, the open-source AI tool, has raised $65 million in Series B funding, led by Theory Ventures. This funding round follows a previous $15 million Series A led by Benchmark's Peter Fenton, bringing the company's total funding to $88 million. With over 8.9 million monthly users and a presence in 85% of the Fortune 500, Ollama is rapidly growing. The tool helps developers run open-weight AI models on their PCs, making it easy to get up and running in minutes. The company's founders, Jeff Morgan and Michael Chiang, have a background in building Docker Desktop, which helped them understand the needs of developers. Ollama's cloud service provides access to larger, more complex models, but some users have criticized the company for focusing on its cloud business, which they see as a deviation from its open-source mission. However, the company argues that its cloud service is an evolution of its open-source mission to help programmers find and easily use models. The funding round also highlights the growing trend of open-source AI projects turning into companies pursued by VCs. Ollama's success and funding raise questions about the future of open-source AI and the role of closed models in the industry.
