How Anthropic's new $100 million fund will boost AI-focused start-ups
AI start-up Anthropic, and Silicon Valley venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, have announced a partnership to establish a $100 million initiative named "the Anthology Fund." The fund's objective is to invest in pre-seed and Series A AI companies. This announcement comes after Menlo Ventures recently became the top investor in Anthropic, by closing an over $750 million funding round in the foundational model company.
Contents of Anthology Fund
The capital for the Anthology Fund is a part of Menlo Ventures's latest $1.35 billion vehicle, raised in November last year, according to Matt Murphy, a partner at Menlo Ventures. "We're one of the biggest investors in Anthropic and huge fans of what they're doing," Murphy stated. He further added that this partnership presents an opportunity to find great firms building on Anthropic or AI more broadly.
Anthology Fund to boost AI-first start-ups
Menlo Ventures plans to leverage its investment and relationship with Anthropic to identify promising AI-first start-ups for future investments. The Anthology Fund will provide initial investments starting at $100,000 (₹83.5 lakh) in start-ups, and offer them $25,000 (₹21 lakh) worth of credits to use Anthropic's models. Start-ups can apply for funding through an online form, which Menlo will score and rank using its proprietary machine learning tool.
Menlo Ventures's continued support
Murphy confirmed that the diligence process on these firms is expected to be more "lightweight" than for a typical investment by the company. He also assured that Menlo will back any subsequent rounds raised by promising Anthology Fund companies. This commitment indicates Menlo's continued support and belief in the potential of AI-first start-ups nurtured through the Anthology Fund.
