VC Deedy Breaks Down Open Source Costs: Kimi K3 Only 40% Cheaper Than Opus
Scobleizer · x · 2026-08-20
In a recent interview, Deedy Das, Partner at Menlo Ventures, shared his investment thesis and a detailed analysis of open source model economics. He mentioned backing companies like OpenRouter and Wispr Flow, while also revealing a missed opportunity on a startup later acquired by Nvidia for $20B.
Addressing the debate on open source value, Deedy challenged the notion that open weights offer a cheap alternative. Using Kimi K3 as a case study, he calculated that while the price is around $15 per million output tokens—roughly 40% cheaper than Opus at $25—users must shoulder the hosting and maintenance burden of a 2.8 trillion parameter model. He argued that labs releasing open weights are not doing so to provide a low-cost path forward.
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