Ollama

Ollama is a software company behind an open-source platform for running large language models on a user's own machine or in the cloud, with a command line, a desktop app and a local API. It is run as Ollama Inc.

Its founders, Jeffrey Morgan (CEO) and Michael Chiang, previously built Kitematic, which Docker bought in 2015. The first release came on 8 July 2023, and the software is MIT-licensed. It became a common way to run open models such as Llama, Gemma, Mistral and Qwen, and its site claims over 9 million monthly installs and over 1 billion model downloads.

On 9 July 2026 Ollama announced a $65 million Series B led by Theory Ventures, with Benchmark, 8VC, Y Combinator and others, bringing total funding to $88 million; it says 8.9 million developers use it. In 2025 and 2026 it added hosted cloud models, web search and integrations with coding tools. In January 2026 researchers reported many Ollama servers exposed to the open internet because users bound them to all network interfaces.