Open-source software powers a significant share of modern business infrastructure, yet many critical projects remain maintained by small, underfunded teams, raising concerns about the long-term resilience and security of the systems they support.
Global prime broker EXANTE has launched Gecko Fund, a €1 million grant programme designed to support open-source software projects that play a critical role in trading systems, financial data infrastructure, and broader financial technology ecosystems.
The initiative aims to provide direct funding to maintainers of widely used but often underfunded open-source technologies, including APIs, developer tools, core infrastructure libraries, and projects that support modern financial services.
The launch comes amid growing concerns about the sustainability of open-source software. While businesses increasingly rely on open-source technologies, many of the maintainers behind critical projects continue to operate with limited financial support. This has increased concerns around software resilience, cybersecurity, and operational risks, particularly as AI accelerates the discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities.
Gecko Fund will focus on established open-source projects that are widely adopted but receive limited funding relative to their importance. Priority areas include Erlang/OTP, Scala, Java and JVM technologies, JavaScript, developer tooling, and core infrastructure software, although applications from other projects relevant to the financial ecosystem will also be considered.
The programme has already awarded its first grant, providing €10,000 to Kryo, an open-source Java serialisation framework widely used in high-performance data processing and trading environments.
Our goal is not simply to fund software. It is to strengthen the communities and maintainers behind the infrastructure that modern finance depends on every day. We believe the industry that benefits from these tools should play a role in sustaining them,
said Anatoly Knyazev, founder of Gecko Fund and co-founder of EXANTE.
Applications will be reviewed on a quarterly basis, with grants ranging from €10,000 to €150,000 depending on a project’s adoption, impact, funding needs, and relevance to the financial sector. Individuals, project teams, communities, and organisations are eligible to apply.