Ollama raises $65M to bring open-source AI to personal computers

Morgan and co-founder Michael Chiang met at the University of Waterloo. They previously built Kitematic, an open-source tool that simplified running Docker containers. Docker acquired that startup in 2015, and it became Docker Desktop, now used by over 10 million developers daily. The pair is now betting on a similar shift for AI.

Ollama was initially based in Toronto. It relocated to Silicon Valley, Morgan said, because "the Bay Area is the epicentre of AI." The startup's growth mirrors a broader trend: Canadian founders are increasingly moving to the U.S. to raise capital faster, according to data from Leaders Fund.

Morgan said the local execution model appeals to enterprises that need to keep data on premises. The company claims its platform now supports more than 100,000 open-source models. Developers can iterate faster without sending data to a third-party API.

The round closed in early March. No valuation was disclosed.