1、Sam Boysel,The Linux Foundation Matthieu Lavergne,Serena Matt Trifiro,Commercial Open Source Startup Alliance(COSSA)Forewords by Matt Trifiro,COSSA,Frank Nagle,The Linux FoundationAugust 2025The State of Commercial Open Source 2025The Data-Backed Financial Case from 25 Years of Commercial Open Sourc

2、eCommercial Open Source(COSS)is a well-established venture investment category,accounting for an average of$9B per year across 250 deals.Mega-rounds in 2024 reflect high confidence in late-stage COSS category leaders:Databricks:$9.5B,xAI:$11B,Mistral AI:$600M(Series A).The US is still theprimary hub

3、 for VC-backed COSS companies,with 65%of companies being US-based double the US share in overall software(33%).Open source forms the backbone of modern software infrastructure;About 90%of venture-funded COSS companies design and maintain critical software infrastructure.Development tools and core in

4、frastructure are over 5x more likely to be commercial open source(COSS),with open source being the default go-to-market for investors&founders.COSS companies outperform closed-source peers in fundraising speed and valuations at early stagesCOSS exits are real:12%of venture-funded COSS companies have

5、 reached M&Aor IPO.COSS companies get superior exit valuations(7x higher at IPO and 14x higher at M&A)COSS companies dont require more time or capital to reach key valuation milestones instead,they convertboth more efficiently into valuation.Highly valuable COSS companiescultivate integral&vibrantpr

6、oject communities:OpenSSF Criticality Score,the number of distinct contributors,&commit frequency correlate strongly with COSS valuations.Communities benefit from COSS funding:27%increase in distinct contributors,2+new contributing organizations,and 52%increase in release frequency following funding