Looking Forward

Open-source AI models have closed the gap with their closed-source counterparts.

Open-source models like Mistral and Llama have established a strong foothold in the AI community, rapidly evolving with efficient versions that consistently match or outperform top proprietary models like GPT and Claude in various benchmarks. Other open-source models, such as Qwen and Yi, are also quickly catching up in performance.
OS has moved past the AI hype cycle trough; steady growth in developer engagement continues

Developer interest has in OS AI has entered the “slope of enlightenment”, where value-driven innovation grows. While Hugging Face and OpenAI lead in traction, repositories from MindsDB and Roboflow are gaining momentum, joining previous top performers like AutoGPT and Nomic AI.
OS AI innovation has expanded downstream, from Models and Dev tools to training and monitoring

The open source AI space has seen a surge in startup activity in 2024, with 150+ players innovating across use cases. The landscape has expanded beyond just foundational models and devtools to model training, fine-tuning and monitoring – indicating a rapid evolution of the space from fundamental tools to mature, efficiency-driven offerings.
Fundraising in OS AI is impressive in volume as well as size, even by Gen AI standards

Open Source AI startups are standing out with large deal sizes, highlighting their growing influence and potential in the industry. Nvidia’s $300M acquisition of Deci AI, Scale AI’s $1B Series F, Mistral AI’s $640M Series B are proof. Supabase is a likely contender for a sizeable deal in the near future.

Interested in learning more about startups building in open source AI? We have curated a list of 75+ amazing Open Source AI startups, that are seeing great traction on alternative datasets like Github, Employee counts, Website visits, Job openings, and more. Download the list here.