Menlo Ventures raises $3B fund on back of Anthropic success
Original: After betting the firm on Anthropic, Menlo Ventures raises victorious $3B fund
Why This Matters
Demonstrates AI-focused venture strategy success and validates early Anthropic investment thesis during competitive AI funding environment.
Menlo Ventures closed a $3 billion fund, its largest in 50 years, driven by its investment in AI company Anthropic, whose stake is now valued at approximately $14 billion after initial $750 million bet in 2024.
Menlo Ventures announced on Tuesday a $3 billion fundraise, marking the firm's largest capital raise in its 50-year history. The fund's success is largely attributed to the venture capital firm's significant exposure to artificial intelligence, particularly its substantial stake in Anthropic. According to Bloomberg sources, Menlo's stake in Anthropic is currently valued at around $14 billion. The firm made a major bet-the-firm investment of $750 million in Anthropic's Series D in 2024, when the AI company was valued at $18.4 billion. Menlo had been an early Series C investor before Anthropic had launched a product. The 2024 investment was structured aggressively, with approximately $500 million raised through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) pooling money from multiple sources, while Menlo contributed $250 million from its own fund and insider contributions. At the time, such large venture checks were uncommon as the VC industry was recovering from post-pandemic downturn. Since then, Menlo continued investing in Anthropic's Series E and F rounds. Additionally, Menlo and Anthropic launched the Anthology startup fund in 2024 with $100 million in initial capital, which has since grown to approximately $250 million in deployed capital. The Anthology fund has backed over 60 companies and produced returns including exits like Graphite's acquisition by Cursor and Astrix Security's acquisition by Cisco.