Portfolio
Working on Mermaid on the weekends and evenings wasn't sustainable in the long run. Starting a company with OCV allowed me to work on it full-time and gave the open source project a major boost.
Knut Sveidqvist
Creator & Co-founder
From commit to company
We turn open source projects into durable, venture-scale opportunities.
Who we back
For the people who can't leave a gap unfilled.
Our founders share a specific psychology: "I needed something that didn't exist, so I built it myself." It's the story behind nearly every founder we work with. We start companies with people who have that instinct, pair them with experienced operators, and give them the structure to scale.
SPOTLIGHTS
All companies →Portfolio
Building with OCV feels like adding decades of open source company-building experience to your founding team from day one. They've been invaluable partners as we've built Superserve..
PAVITRA BHALLA
FOUNDER & CTO
Superserve
Portfolio
I can dedicate real time to developing the features people have been asking for with a company behind the project. Consulting with OCV on product direction and improvements has been a huge benefit.
Anthony Stirling
Creator & Founder
Stirling PDF
How we partner
Open by design, enduring by nature.
Deep roots in the open source community and pattern recognition honed over hundreds of investments let us identify durable business opportunities before anyone else considers them fundable. When a project clears the bar, we start a company and get to work alongside the founding team.
Our story
Built to launch the next era of software.
Founded by Sid Sijbrandij, Open Core Ventures was built on the conviction that the world's most important software companies are already taking shape in the open source community. With the right playbook, the right partners, and the right founders, they can become the companies that shape the next era of software.
For open source founders
I built an open source project.
You shipped something thousands of developers depend on. Let's scale it.
BECOME A FOUNDING CTO →
For operators & CEOs
I want to lead an open source company.
Build a venture-scale open core business with the firm that's done it before.
BECOME A FOUNDING CEO →
Latest essays
All essays ↗Jul 2, 2026 · 6 min read
Building venture-scale open core
There is no perfect playbook, but there are proven strategies you can use to build open core businesses that scale while maintaining the trust of the open source community.
Sid Sijbrandij
Jun 11, 2026 · 4 min read
Software is being rebuilt for agents, MCP is winning, and the tooling is still early
The internet's front door has moved from browsers and search bars to AI agents like Claude and ChatGPT. MCP is the protocol defining how those agents reach the software underneath.
Richard Aberman
Jun 11, 2026 · 4 min read
Betting on open source agents
Agents are becoming the most trusted software layer. But to build them right, they need to be open, secure, and accessible.
Mark Wasuwanich
Jun 9, 2026 · 5 min read
Don't listen to potential customers "if only" requests
Prioritize feedback from your heaviest users, not potential customers—true product growth comes from iterating on real user needs, not chasing every last sales objection.
Sid Sijbrandij