> The development feels less organic and more driven by venture capital

The development has been driven by the needs of Modular.

> This is most acutely felt in the current closed source development of mojo itself

Mojo compiler is closed, the language development is quite open. Some of the proposed changes have been shelved or tweaked based on community feedback. However, you should understand that the compiler is closed to avoid design by committee and bike-shedding, Modular will and does veto decisions on core language semantics, see: https://forum.modular.com/t/canonicalize-apis-around-int/253...

> which seems like it will continue into the near future.

The compiler is getting opened this August. I must admit, a lot of people who would be normally interested in the language are hesitant to poke at it with a stick with the current license (myself included).

The language has really great set of features and functionalities wrapped in a familiar syntax, I have zero doubt it'll reach mainstream adoption.