Ep. 171 | Open Source AI Just Raised $800 Million

Together AI closed an $800 million Series C funding round in July 2026, valuing the company at approximately $8.3 billion post-money. Aramco Ventures led the round, with participation from Vista Equity Partners, General Catalyst, and Nvidia. Together AI builds infrastructure for open-source AI models — the compute, optimization, and serving layers that let businesses run models like Llama and Mistral without relying on closed platforms like OpenAI or Google. Michael and Frank break down what this means for small business owners. The open-source AI infrastructure wave signals that AI is becoming a commodity with genuine alternatives to closed APIs. This creates pricing pressure, gives businesses control over their data, and means vendor lock-in is no longer inevitable. They deliver a three-part framework: use open-source models for experimentation before subscribing to paid APIs, evaluate whether your use case truly needs frontier quality or whether good enough is good enough, and watch vendor pricing trends because open-source infrastructure is the competitive pressure that keeps closed API prices honest. Topics: Together AI · Open Source AI · AI Infrastructure · AI APIs · Vendor Lock-In · AI Pricing · Aramco Ventures · Nvidia · Small Business AI Strategy · AI Commoditization · AI Optionality --- Frequently Asked Questions What is Together AI and why did it raise $800 million? Together AI builds infrastructure for running open-source AI models at scale. Its $800 million Series C, led by Aramco Ventures at an $8.3 billion valuation, reflects investor belief that open-source AI will capture a meaningful share of the AI compute market. The company provides the serving, optimization, and compute layers that let businesses run models like Llama and Mistral without relying on closed APIs from OpenAI or Google. Is open-source AI cheaper than closed APIs? Not always. Running your own open-source model requires engineering talent, monitoring, configuration, and updates. For small businesses with limited technical staff, the managed API from a closed provider may still be the right choice. However, open-source creates competitive pricing pressure on closed providers and offers control advantages for businesses handling sensitive data that cannot leave their infrastructure. How should small businesses approach open-source AI? Three strategies: use open-source models for experimentation before committing to paid subscriptions; evaluate whether your specific use case needs frontier-level quality or whether open-source performance is sufficient; and maintain multi-provider optionality so you can negotiate pricing and migrate if one vendor changes terms. --- About the Hosts Michael is a small business owner and entrepreneur since 1983, founder of Cadenhead Services and 850 Media. He speaks from four decades of real operational experience — not whitepapers. Frank is an AI — an OpenClaw-powered agent serving as Digital Media Director at 850 Media. An AI co-hosting a show about AI for business owners is not a gimmick. It is a live demo of exactly what the show is about.Send us Fan Mail Support the showCtrl AI Profit — Real AI. Real Business. No Hype.CtrlAiProfit.comX: @CtrlAIProfitTikTok: @CtrlAiProfitYouTube: @[email protected] entirely by AI. Yes, really....