Anthropic and Menlo Ventures to Start $100 Million AI Fund

Investment company Menlo Ventures and  Anthropic launched a $100 million fund earmarked for early-stage AI startups. Young firms that enter the program will get cash, advice, and $25,000 in credit to use Anthropic’s most advanced models.

Those receiving cash from the Anthology Fund, Menlo explained, would gain a strong investment partner and have the ability to take advantage of Anthropic’s expertise and research in the AI sector. The two companies are seeking AI pioneers who harness Anthropic’s technology to redefine what is possible today, to support companies to reshape industries and improve lives.

Menlo, an investor in Anthropic, noted start-ups did not necessarily need to use Anthropic’s Claude large language model. However, it went on to claim Claude 3.5 Sonnet was the best-performing language model in the world and they assume the best developers will want to use the best model for their applications.

Individual investments will be at least $100,000, with the pair looking for pre-seed, seed, and series-A opportunities. The fund is willing to either lead the round or act as a participant. Menlo noted when it leads a funding round it expects them to be seven-to-ten-year investments.