[WhiteNoiz3]

I've also wondered this. Aside from just securing funding, I could see:

1. Offering a paid hosted solution down the road

2. Offering bigger / better models that cost money to use commercially

3. Consulting services around their models

4. Licensing their models to companies that want to host them as part of a paid offering

IMO the whole advantage of small, open source models is to avoid paying for hosted solutions and additional privacy / security, so it is a bit at odds with commercialization.