Open Core Ventures
Open Core Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that exclusively creates and funds open core companies built around promising open source projects, providing $2M in initial funding and recruiting project maintainers as first-time founders.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Open Core Ventures does
Open Core Ventures (OCV) is a venture capital firm that exclusively creates and funds open core companies built around existing open source projects with commercial potential. Founded by GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij and operating as a brand of We Start The Company LLC (a Delaware LLC), OCV inverts the traditional VC model: rather than waiting for founders to pitch, the firm proactively identifies promising open source projects and recruits their maintainers — often first-time founders — to build venture-scale businesses. Each portfolio company receives $2M in initial funding, with portfolio companies subsequently raising $40M+ in combined Seed+ rounds. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco (548 Market St, PMB 64248) with 1-10 employees.
OCV's core "products" include the OCV Model (the company-building playbook), the Catalyst Program (a 2025 three-month sponsorship initiative for open source authors upstream of full company formation), the OCV Handbook (a proprietary guide for open core founders), the OCV Source Available License (OCVSAL) for proprietary components, and the OCV Public Benefit Company (OPC) Charter — a legally binding corporate formation document that commits portfolio companies to open source principles including majority open source feature development, no removal of previously open source products, and security fix obligations. The portfolio spans 15+ companies across developer tools (Fleet, Mermaid, Locust, GrapesJS, Phaser), security and identity (Authentik, External Secrets — wound down December 2025), infrastructure and DevOps (FlowFuse, Kedify, Kernelize, Lucenia), data and backup (BetterDB, Duplicati), and healthcare and AI (OpenCoreEMR, OCEMR, Gobii). Notable validation: Fleet closed a $27M Series B led by Ten Eleven Ventures in June 2025, bringing its total to $52.3M.
OCV's revenue model is venture capital economics rather than product revenue — equity ownership in portfolio companies, with returns contingent on exits. The firm does not charge for products or services to end customers, no management fees or AUM are publicly disclosed, and there are no announced exits. Distribution is founder-led outbound: OCV identifies projects with community traction and recruits maintainers, leveraging Sid Sijbrandij's open core credibility, the firm's blog and thought leadership, and the network effect of an existing portfolio community. The customer segment is horizontal: technical open source maintainers globally who have not previously considered starting a company.
Open Core Ventures firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Core Ventures
- Legal name
- We Start The Company LLC
- Website
- https://opencoreventures.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Open Core Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that exclusively creates and funds open core companies built around promising open source projects, providing $2M in initial funding and recruiting project maintainers as first-time founders.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Open Core Ventures industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital / Startup Incubation
- NAICS
- Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) (FSANAAAF)
Keywords
Where Open Core Ventures is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Open Core Ventures business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Venture Capital Returns from Portfolio Companies: OCV generates returns through equity ownership in portfolio companies it starts around open source projects. OCV provides $2M in initial funding and companies subsequently raise $40M+ in Seed+ investment rounds. OCV is the founding/seed investor, not a revenue-generating product company.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Open Core Ventures product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Open Core Ventures (OCV) is a venture capital firm that identifies promising open source projects with traction and recruits their authors (typically first-time founders) to build and launch open core companies. OCV provides $2M in initial seed funding to each portfolio company, along with a practical handbook, operational resources, and proprietary legal instruments (the OCV Source Available License and the OCV Public Benefit Company charter). Portfolio companies subsequently raise $40M+ in Seed+ rounds from external investors.
Product overview
Open Core Ventures (OCV) is a venture capital firm that operates the OCV Model, providing $2M in initial funding to first-time founders to build open core companies around promising open source projects. OCV's core offerings include the OCV Model for company-building, the Catalyst Program for project sponsorship, and the OCV Handbook providing practical guidance for open core companies. The firm has built a portfolio of over 15 open core companies spanning various technology categories including PDF tools (Stirling PDF), diagramming (Mermaid Chart), device management (Fleet), identity management (Authentik), workflow automation (FlowFuse), GPU optimization (Kernelize), AI agents (Gobii), healthcare technology (OpenCoreEMR), load testing (Locust), website building (GrapesJS Studio), and game development (Phaser).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- OCV Model (Open Core Model) The core company-building and investment model under which OCV proactively identifies open source projects with commercial traction, recruits their maintainers as founders, and provides $2M in seed funding plus operational resources and guidance to launch venture-scale open core businesses.
- Catalyst Program A three-month sponsorship program offering financial, strategic, and marketing support to open source authors, helping them grow their projects toward commercial viability. Participants receive funding and guidance to establish measurable goals for long-term success.
Companies that use Open Core Ventures
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Open Core Ventures technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Open Core Ventures partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Open Core Ventures competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- OSS Capital: OSS Capital is a venture capital firm exclusively focused on commercial open source software companies—the most direct strategic comparable to OCV. Both firms concentrate investment activity on open source commercialization models, though OCV differentiates by proactively starting companies around existing projects rather than investing in already-formed startups.
- Runa Capital: Runa Capital is a global venture firm with deep expertise in open source and infrastructure software investments. It shares OCV's focus on backing open source-based businesses but operates a traditional fund-and-invest model rather than OCV's company-creation approach.
Broad incumbents
- Andreessen Horowitz: Andreessen Horowitz is a major venture firm with extensive open source and infrastructure software investments across its portfolio. As a broad incumbent with a dedicated infrastructure thesis, it competes with OCV for top open source founders while offering scale, brand, and follow-on capital that OCV cannot match.
- Index Ventures: Index Ventures was an early investor in GitLab—OCV founder Sid Sijbrandij's company—and maintains a deep open source portfolio. As a broad incumbent, Index competes for open core deals and provides a reference point for how generalist VCs approach the open core opportunity.
- Insight Partners: Insight Partners has invested heavily in commercial open source companies (Postgres, etc.) and led Fleet's $27M Series B as an OCV portfolio co-investor. As a broad incumbent, it represents the type of late-stage capital that OCV's portfolio companies tap for Series B+ rounds.
- Accel: Accel is a major venture firm with a long track record of open source investments (Facebook, Cloudera, GitHub-adjacent bets). As a broad incumbent, it competes for high-quality open source founders and provides follow-on capital to companies OCV seeds.
- Bessemer Venture Partners: Bessemer Venture Partners has a substantial open source software portfolio (Shopify, Twilio, HashiCorp) and publishes industry-defining research like the State of the Cloud report. As a broad incumbent, it competes for open core deals and represents the kind of institutional capital that could anchor OCV's future funds.
- Lightspeed Venture Partners: Lightspeed has made multiple open source and infrastructure software investments across stages. As a broad incumbent, it competes for enterprise-focused open source deals and could provide follow-on capital for OCV's portfolio companies.
- General Catalyst: General Catalyst is a major venture firm with investments across infrastructure, developer tools, and open source-adjacent companies. As a broad incumbent, it represents another source of follow-on capital and competitive deal flow for OCV's portfolio.
Emerging players
- Boldstart Ventures: Boldstart Ventures is an early-stage venture firm focused on enterprise SaaS and developer tools, with several open source-adjacent investments. It is comparable to OCV in targeting technical founders but takes a more traditional pre-seed/seed investing approach rather than OCV's company-creation model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Open Core Ventures social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Core Ventures financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Core Ventures leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Open Core Ventures subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries17 records
Open Core Ventures funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Core Ventures M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments8 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Open Core Ventures
What does Open Core Ventures do?
Open Core Ventures (OCV) is a venture capital firm that identifies promising open source projects with traction and recruits their authors (typically first-time founders) to build and launch open core companies. OCV provides $2M in initial seed funding to each portfolio company, along with a practical handbook, operational resources, and proprietary legal instruments (the OCV Source Available License and the OCV Public Benefit Company charter). Portfolio companies subsequently raise $40M+ in Seed+ rounds from external investors.
Is Open Core Ventures a public or private company?
Open Core Ventures is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Open Core Ventures founded?
Open Core Ventures was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Open Core Ventures based?
Open Core Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Open Core Ventures make money?
One revenue line is on record: venture Capital Returns from Portfolio Companies.
Who are Open Core Ventures's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are OSS Capital and Runa Capital. Broad incumbents are Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst. Boldstart Ventures is listed as an emerging player.
Does Open Core Ventures have an API?
No public API is recorded for Open Core Ventures.
What industry is Open Core Ventures in?
Open Core Ventures's product category is Venture Capital / Startup Incubation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAF, Corporate Venture Capital (CVC). Its NAICS code is 523940 and its SIC code is 6282.