More venture capitalists are investing in open source projects, says the Seattle P-I:

By its very nature, open-source software would appear to run counter to the goals of venture capitalists. Not only is it distributed and developed for free by a loose-knit group of techies from around the world, but it lacks the sort of proprietary protection that VCs typically crave.

Despite those obvious challenges, a growing number of venture capital firms, including several in the Pacific Northwest, believe that there are ways to profit from the open-source movement.