Menlo Ventures' Murphy: Anthropic's edge isn't the model
Original: Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy explains why Anthropic is winning (and it’s not the model)
Why This Matters
Anthropic's rapid revenue growth signals that AI safety positioning may be a durable enterprise differentiator.
Menlo Ventures partner Matt Murphy says Anthropic's success — reaching a $47B revenue run rate by May 2026, up from $9B in 2025 — is unlike anything he's seen in 25 years of investing, and credits factors beyond model quality.
On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Menlo Ventures' Matt Murphy discussed his firm's early bet on Anthropic, which Menlo backed in a $500M Series D before the company had launched or generated revenue. Anthropic has since grown its annualized revenue run rate to $47 billion as of May 2026, compared to $9 billion in 2025 — growth Murphy describes as unprecedented across 25 years of investing, surpassing what he witnessed during the internet, mobile, and first cloud booms. Murphy argues that Anthropic's competitive advantage is not rooted in its model alone, suggesting that enterprise trust, safety positioning, and go-to-market execution are the real drivers of the company's rise to one of the most valuable startups in existence. The episode is hosted by TechCrunch's Julie Bort.