Ollama raises $65 million and consolidates as an open-source AI tool for developers

Ollama, an open-source tool that has become a reference for broken developers in artificial intelligence, has just raised $65 million in a series B round led by Theory Venture. With almost 9 million active users, 176,000 stars and 17,000 forks at GitHub, the platform consolidates as one of the most vibrant ecosystems for those who want to run AI models locally without relying on closed services.

What is Ollama: the open-source platform that simplifies AI models

Ollama allows developers to find, download, and execute artificial intelligence models — such as Llama, Mistral, and others — directly on their machines, with no need for cloud infrastructure. The ease of use, combined with the fact that it is totally free and open source, has transformed the tool into one of GitHub's hottest repositories. In less than two years, the user base has jumped from a few thousand to 9 million, and the project accumulates contributions from thousands of developers around the world.

Why is the $65 million investment in Ollama a milestone?

The series B round, led by Theory Venture, signals that the market sees Ollama as a key part in democratizing access to AI. The value will be used to expand the team, improve local performance, and build integrations with hardware and cloud providers. The investment also reflects the trend that more and more companies want to run AI models on-premises or on their own servers, either for privacy, cost or digital sovereignty — a topic we discussed in Digital Soberania: How Countries Build AI Infrastructure for Strategic Priorities.

Ollama vs. other open-source AI tools: differences and advantages

Unlike solutions such as French ZML Startup launches free software to run AI on any chip – Nvidia, AMD, TPU and Apple Metal, which focuses on hardware compatibility, Ollama prioritizes the developer's experience: just one terminal command to download and run models. The platform also offers a simple REST API, facilitating integration with existing applications. With the new round, it promises even wider GPU support and acceleration via NPUs.

Future of Ollama: plans with the new $65 million investment

The company plans to launch a business version with additional security and management features, as well as expanding the marketplace of models. The goal is to become the "Docker of the AI" — an abstraction that makes it trivial to run any model anywhere. For Brazilian developers, Ollama represents a gateway to experiment and prototyp with AI free of charge, without cost barriers or dependence on foreign giants. More details about the round can be found in the original TechCrunch matter.

Frequently asked questions about Ollama and its investment

Is Ollama really free?

Yes, Ollama is completely free and open source. There are no usage, signature or limit rates of models.

What AI models can I run with Ollama?

You can run hundreds of models, including Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Stable Diffusion and many others, available in the official tool hub.

How do I start using Ollama?

Just access the official website, download the installer to your operating system (Windows, macOS or Linux) and run ollama run with the name of the desired model.