Ollama is showing how quickly open source AI tools can move from developer favorite to mainstream infrastructure. The Benchmark-backed company has raised $65 million after growing to nearly 9 million users, according to TechCrunch.
The tool’s appeal is simple but powerful: it helps developers run AI models directly on their PCs. That makes experimentation easier, lowers barriers to entry, and gives builders more flexibility to test and deploy AI without relying entirely on cloud-based systems.
A fast-growing open source community
Ollama’s momentum is especially visible on GitHub, where it has amassed 176,000 stars and nearly 17,000 forks. Those numbers point to a highly engaged developer community that is not just watching the project, but actively using and extending it.
- Nearly 9 million users are now using Ollama.
- 176,000 GitHub stars signal broad developer enthusiasm.
- Almost 17,000 forks show strong open source participation.
This funding round is a win for local AI development and the broader open source ecosystem. As more developers gain easy access to AI tools on their own machines, the pace of experimentation, learning, and product creation can accelerate across the industry.