The article discusses the ROSS Index, an annual report by VC firm Runa Capital that tracks and ranks open-source startups. The index is based on several criteria, including the number of contributors, repositories, issues opened, and commits made to a project over the past year. Here are some key points from the article:
Key findings:
- The top 10 open-source startups in 2022 were:
- Elastic
- MongoDB
- Redis Labs
- Grafana Labs
- Postgres Professional
- Cockroach Labs
- Dgraph
- TiDB
- Redpanda
- Vector
- The report highlights the growth of open-source startups, with 75% of companies in the top 100 having more than $1 million in revenue.
- The average age of the companies in the top 100 is around 6-7 years.
Methodology:
- Runa Capital’s ROSS Index uses a combination of metrics to rank open-source startups, including:
- Number of contributors
- Repositories
- Issues opened
- Commits made
- GitHub activity (e.g., watchers, forks)
- The report includes a liberal interpretation of "open source," allowing companies with restricted licenses like BSL and SSPL to be included.
Implications:
- The growth of open-source startups has significant implications for the software industry as a whole, including increased competition, innovation, and adoption.
- Open-source companies are increasingly seen as viable alternatives to traditional proprietary software vendors.
- The report highlights the need for investors, developers, and users to pay attention to the evolving landscape of open-source startups.
Comparison with other indexes:
- Runa Capital’s ROSS Index is similar in concept to Two Sigma Ventures’ Open Source Index and GitHub’s trending repositories page.
- However, the ROSS Index focuses specifically on open-source startups, making it a useful tool for investors and developers looking to identify emerging trends and opportunities.
Overall, the ROSS Index provides valuable insights into the growth and evolution of the open-source startup ecosystem.
