tech
Menlo Ventures' Matt Murphy explains what AI startups founders must do differently
Anthropic leaped to a $47 billion revenue run rate by May. Menlo Ventures' Matt Murphy tells Equity it's the kind of growth curve he's never seen in 25 years of investing.
TL;DR
- Menlo Ventures invested in Anthropic at a $4 billion pre-revenue valuation, seeing Google and Amazon's early investment as a positive sign.
- Matt Murphy believes the AI model was not the primary competitive advantage; Claude Code, MCP, and Claude Skills transformed Anthropic into a platform.
- Murphy defends Anthropic's Mythos rollout against criticism, asserting it was more about safety than marketing.
- Startups like Lovable and Legora are experiencing growth rates unseen in Murphy's 25-year investment career.