Ollama launched in 2023 to make open-weight AI models easy for developers to run locally, aiming to simplify model discovery and execution on personal machines. It provides a desktop product for running models locally and a hosted neocloud with subscription tiers (from free up to $100/month) for larger models, tracking usage by GPU time rather than token limits. The project has strong developer traction with roughly 176,000 GitHub stars, nearly 17,000 forks, and about 8.9 million monthly users while reportedly sitting in 85% of the Fortune 500. Founders Jeff Morgan and Michael Chiang previously helped build Docker Desktop, and the company operates with about 14 employees. Ollama has framed its cloud business as an extension of its open-source mission to help developers find and use models, noting increased commercial demand as larger open models became capable of practical tasks.

Total raised

$80M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Jul 2026