Tripling Down on Anthropic: Why We’re Excited to Continue Investing in the Leader in the Future of AI
At Menlo Ventures, we are deeply committed to supporting the world’s most transformative AI companies. It’s difficult to imagine a company that embodies that more than Anthropic. Since our initial investment in their Series C (pre-revenue and pre-launch in May 2023), leading their Series D (early ramp), and now participating in their Series E (epic ramp), we’ve had the privilege of watching them push the boundaries of AI model performance, functionality, and safety. Our partnership extends beyond capital—we launched the $100 million Anthology Fund with Anthropic to support an exciting wave of AI startups building on their models.
We’re thrilled to continue to back Anthropic as an investor in their $3.5 billion Series E, bringing them to a $61.5 billion valuation. This latest round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and joined by Menlo Ventures, is a testament to the industry’s confidence in Anthropic’s leadership, vision, and execution. Thousands of developers and Fortune 500 companies have AI model choices to make every day and yet continue to standardize on Anthropic given its technical leadership. The most exciting thing is how far they’ve come in a relatively short period of time, especially considering how quickly this market is moving and how enormous it has become.
The Next Evolution of Claude and AI Safety
Anthropic has made remarkable progress in the past year, with the Claude AI family evolving rapidly to set new benchmarks for enterprise adoption. Their Claude models—built with Constitutional AI principles—are designed for reliability, steerability, and alignment, ensuring that businesses can trust and integrate AI seamlessly into their workflows. Their unique functionality, such as computer use, artifacts, hybrid reasoning model, and Claude for Enterprise, have unlocked new ways for developers to use models and has accelerated the overall market. Partnerships with Amazon and Google have given them unique advantages in terms of distribution and technical collaboration. We’re impressed with the many moats the company has built, starting with the best team in the industry.
With this new round of funding, Anthropic will:
- Expand Claude’s capabilities for more advanced enterprise and developer applications.
- Scale their AI research and engineering teams to push the boundaries of model efficiency and safety.
- Accelerate global adoption of Claude models across industries, reinforcing AI’s role in driving productivity and automation.
Investing in the AI Ecosystem
Beyond our direct investment in Anthropic, Menlo Ventures is committed to fostering a robust AI ecosystem. Through the $100 million Anthology Fund, we’re actively backing startups building on Claude’s models, ensuring that AI-native businesses have the resources and mentorship they need to succeed. The opportunity space for AI applications is expanding rapidly, and we’re excited to support the next generation of companies leveraging this technology.
The Future of AI Is Just Beginning
Anthropic’s latest advancements reinforce our belief that we’re still in the early innings of AI innovation. As they continue scaling Claude and advancing AI research, we’re confident that Anthropic will play a defining role in shaping how AI evolves in enterprise and consumer applications.
We’re proud to deepen our partnership in this next chapter and look forward to the breakthroughs ahead and watching Anthropic drive the biggest tech opportunity of our generation.
