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After betting the firm on Anthropic, Menlo Ventures raises victorious $3B fund
Menlo Ventures announced $3 billion in new funds on Tuesday, the largest raise in its 50-year history, driven largely by its AI portfolio, particularly Anthropic. Menlo’s stake in the model maker is now worth about $14 billion, sources told Bloomberg. The firm made a bet-the-company $750 million investment in Anthropic in 2024, preemptively leading its Series D. That round quadrupled the startup’s valuation to $18.4 billion. Menlo had been an early investor in the Series C, before Anthropic had a product. By 2024, the company had landed a $4 billion deal from Amazon and was being hotly pursued by VCs, having been founded by former OpenAI researchers, including siblings CEO Dario Amodei and president Daniela Amodei. The way Menlo raised the funds was eye-popping. In 2024, the venture world was still rebounding from the post-pandemic VC winter. No one was writing $750 million checks. Menlo structured about $500 million as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) — a one-off investment entity pooling money from multiple sources. Menlo contributed $250 million from its own fund and insiders, bringing the total to $750 million. Since then, AI SPVs have become common, with Anthropic a particular target — so much so that the AI company last month warned that unauthorized SPVs and secondary markets claiming to sell its stock were scams. But for investors in Menlo’s authorized 2024 deal, the aggressive move paid off. Menlo went on to invest in Anthropic’s Series E and F. It also launched a $100 million startup fund with Anthropic in 2024, named Anthology. That fund has since deployed closer to $250 million, a source told TechCrunch. Anthology has backed more than 60 companies, offering access to Anthropic leaders and credits for Claude, and produced several returns, including Graphite (acquired by Cursor) and Astrix Security (acquired by Cisco). The fund has given Menlo early-stage insight into AI startups and technology. Menlo has since built a broader reputation for AI investing, counting OpenRouter, Higgsfield, Legora, Lovable, and OpenEvidence among its portfolio.