Menlo Ventures raises $3B fund after big bet on Anthropic pays off
▼ Summary
– Menlo Ventures raised $3 billion in its largest fund in 50 years, driven largely by its AI portfolio, with its stake in Anthropic now worth about $14 billion.
– Menlo made a bet-the-firm $750 million investment in Anthropic in 2024, preemptively leading the startup’s Series D at an $18.4 billion valuation.
– Menlo raised about $500 million of the investment through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a risky move during the post-pandemic VC winter, with the rest from its own fund and insiders.
– Menlo’s $100 million startup fund with Anthropic, Anthology, has grown to about $250 million deployed, backing over 60 companies and producing returns from acquisitions like Graphite and Astrix Security.
– The fund has strengthened Menlo’s reputation for AI investing, with a portfolio including OpenRouter, Higgsfield, and OpenEvidence.
Menlo Ventures has secured $3 billion in fresh capital, marking the largest fundraising haul in the firm’s five-decade history. The milestone, announced Tuesday, is largely fueled by the soaring value of its AI investments, particularly its stake in Anthropic, which sources tell Bloomberg is now worth approximately $14 billion.
When Menlo made a bold $750 million bet on Anthropic in 2024 , leading the model maker’s Series D , the partners were, by their own admission, gripping the table. That investment round quadrupled Anthropic’s valuation to $18.4 billion at the time. While betting on a promising AI startup wasn’t inherently reckless, the way Menlo assembled that capital was far from conventional.
Menlo had been an early backer, investing before Anthropic even had a product to sell. By 2024, before the launch of tools like Claude Code or Claude Mythos, the company was already gaining serious traction. It had secured a $4 billion deal with Amazon, and venture capitalists were chasing it aggressively. Founded by former OpenAI researchers , including siblings Dario Amodei, the CEO, and Daniela Amodei, the president , Anthropic was the kind of rising star that still attracts intense interest from investors today.
But the mechanics of Menlo’s investment raised eyebrows. In 2024, the venture capital world was still recovering from the post-pandemic downturn. Giants like SoftBank and Tiger Global were licking their wounds. No one was writing checks for three-quarters of a billion dollars.
Menlo structured roughly $500 million of the deal as a special purpose vehicle, or SPV , a one-time investment entity pooling capital from multiple sources for a single transaction. The firm contributed $250 million from its own fund, along with additional money from insiders, according to Forbes reporting at the time. That brought the total round to $750 million.
Since then, AI-focused SPVs have proliferated, with Anthropic becoming a prime target. In fact, the company issued a warning last month, labeling all unauthorized SPVs and secondary markets claiming to sell its stock as outright “scams.”
For those who participated in Menlo’s authorized deal in 2024, however, the aggressive strategy paid off handsomely. Menlo went on to invest in Anthropic’s Series E and Series F rounds as well.
Beyond that, Menlo launched a $100 million startup fund with Anthropic in 2024, playfully named Anthology. That fund has since grown to roughly $250 million in deployed capital, according to a source familiar with the fund. It has backed more than 60 companies, offering them access to Anthropic leaders and credits for Claude. Several investments have already yielded returns, including Graphite, acquired by Cursor, and Astrix Security, acquired by Cisco.
The Anthology fund gives Menlo a direct line into the earliest stages of AI innovation, helping the firm stay ahead of emerging categories and technologies. Menlo has since built a wider reputation for AI investing, with a portfolio that now includes stars like OpenRouter, Higgsfield, Legora, Lovable, and OpenEvidence, among many others.
(Source: TechCrunch)
