>But the question is if its entirely reasonable as to a project like Curl getting less funding overall, simply because everyone is using curl underneath but the tech is boring (as I think it should be), but this makes everyone think that curl is well-funded when it isn't.

I think the returns fall off really really quickly when you increase investment in a boring, mature project like this.

It might be nice if people sponsored curl more, but the software isn't going to significantly improve because of it.