tech
From 'heartburn' to $14 billion: Inside Menlo's early Anthropic investment that broke all the rules.
As Anthropic prepares to go public, Menlo Ventures will be one of the biggest winners, turning an estimated $1 billion stake into around $14 billion.
TL;DR
- Menlo Ventures invested in Anthropic in early 2023 when it was pre-revenue and had a high valuation, against internal concerns.
- Partner Matt Murphy saw Anthropic's potential to be a strong rival to OpenAI, despite OpenAI's established position.
- Menlo Ventures invested in every funding round since 2023 and plans to launch a fund with Anthropic.
- The initial $1 billion investment is now estimated to be worth $14 billion.
- Menlo led Anthropic's Series D round, making it the firm's largest-ever check, after regretting not leading the Series C.
- Anthropic's annualized revenue grew from close to $100 million during Series D to roughly $1 billion by December 2024.