Zerodha injects $675,000 into its $1 million annual fund for global open source projects, urging India to create a sovereign FOSS fund to strengthen tech sovereignty.
Zerodha has announced the second and final tranche of $675,000 from its $1 million annual fund supporting Free / Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS / FLOSS) projects worldwide. Combined with the first tranche of $325,000, the total funding for 2025 now reaches $1 million, reinforcing the stockbroking platform’s structured commitment to open source innovation.
The fund backs development in developer tools, consumer apps, programming languages and libraries, as well as humanitarian and social-impact software initiatives.
Kailash Nadh, CTO of Zerodha, highlighted the strategic importance of open-source software for India, stating: “Given the focus on tech sovereignty, now feels like the most opportune moment to establish a sovereign FOSS fund — a move of direct strategic national importance. It would be a win for the FOSS ecosystem, the state, the government, and the industry, both of which are massive beneficiaries of FOSS.”
Globally, few government initiatives actively support FLOSS, with notable examples including the German Sovereign Tech Fund, NLNet (EU-supported), and the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
Since the first tranche in May 2025, the fund has disbursed $195,000 to projects including Krita, OpenSSL Library, and Weblate, with disbursement typically taking 4–16 weeks. Selection challenges include identifying key contributors in multi-developer projects, where community input plays a critical role.
Looking ahead, Zerodha plans to allocate another $1 million in 2026 and is exploring partnerships with GitHub Sponsors to facilitate direct project funding. As Nadh explained: “We have been working on establishing a formal partnership with GitHub Sponsors to enable projects to choose it as a channel for getting paid.”
