After betting the firm on Anthropic, Menlo Ventures raises victorious $3B fund
After betting the firm on Anthropic, Menlo Ventures raises victorious $3B fund
在豪赌 Anthropic 成功后，Menlo Ventures 成功募集 30 亿美元基金
Menlo Ventures announced $3 billion in funds on Tuesday, the largest raise in its 50-year history, driven in large part by its AI portfolio, especially Anthropic. Its stake in the model maker is now worth about $14 billion, sources told Bloomberg.
Menlo Ventures 周二宣布募集了 30 亿美元资金，这是其 50 年历史上规模最大的一次募资，这在很大程度上得益于其人工智能投资组合，尤其是 Anthropic。据彭博社消息人士透露，该公司目前持有的这家模型制造商的股份价值约为 140 亿美元。
To hear the folks at Menlo talk about it, they were white-knuckled when they made a bet-the-firm $750 million investment in Anthropic in 2024, preemptively leading the model maker’s Series D. At the time, that round quadrupled the startup’s valuation to $18.4 billion. While the bet itself was arguably not wildly risky, the means by which the firm raised that kind of capital was more so.
据 Menlo 的相关人士回忆，他们在 2024 年对 Anthropic 进行 7.5 亿美元的“赌上公司命运”式投资时，内心十分紧张，当时他们抢先领投了该公司的 D 轮融资。在那一轮融资中，这家初创公司的估值翻了两番，达到 184 亿美元。虽然这笔赌注本身可以说并非极其冒险，但该公司筹集这笔资金的方式却更具挑战性。
Menlo had been an early investor in the Series C, before Anthropic had a product. By 2024, long before Claude Code and Claude Mythos, the company was showing signs of success. It had landed a $4 billion deal from Amazon and was being hotly pursued by VCs, having been founded by former OpenAI researchers, including siblings CEO Dario Amodei and president Daniela Amodei. It was a rising-star AI company, as so many startups founded by OpenAI alum still are today.
Menlo 在 Anthropic 尚未推出产品时就已是其 C 轮融资的早期投资者。到了 2024 年，在 Claude Code 和 Claude Mythos 发布之前，该公司就已经展现出成功的迹象。它获得了亚马逊 40 亿美元的投资，并受到风险投资机构的热烈追捧。该公司由前 OpenAI 研究人员创立，其中包括首席执行官 Dario Amodei 和总裁 Daniela Amodei 这对兄妹。它当时是一颗冉冉升起的人工智能新星，正如今天许多由 OpenAI 校友创立的初创公司一样。
But how Menlo raised the funds was eye-popping. In 2024, the venture world was just rebounding from the post-pandemic VC winter, with big-money firms like SoftBank and Tiger Global still licking their wounds. No one was writing checks for three-quarters of a billion dollars. Menlo structured the bulk of deal, about $500 million worth, as a special purpose vehicle, or SPV — a one-off investment entity created to pool money from multiple sources for a single deal. Menlo also contributed $250 million from its own fund and contributions from Menlo insiders, sources told Forbes at the time, bringing the total round to $750 million.
但 Menlo 筹集资金的方式令人瞠目结舌。2024 年，风险投资界刚刚从疫情后的“寒冬”中复苏，软银 (SoftBank) 和老虎环球 (Tiger Global) 等大资本机构仍在舔舐伤口。当时没有人会开出 7.5 亿美元的支票。Menlo 将这笔交易的大部分（约 5 亿美元）构建为特殊目的载体 (SPV)——这是一种为单一交易从多个来源汇集资金而创建的一次性投资实体。据《福布斯》当时报道，Menlo 还从其自有基金中出资 2.5 亿美元，并由内部人士提供资金，使总融资额达到 7.5 亿美元。
Since then, AI SPVs have become as commonplace as cockroaches, with Anthropic a particular target — so much so that the AI company issued a warning last month, calling all unauthorized SPVs and secondary markets claiming to sell its stock “scams.” But for those investors in Menlo’s authorized 2024 deal, the aggressive push paid off handsomely. Menlo went on to invest in the company’s Series E and F.
自那以后，人工智能领域的 SPV 变得随处可见，Anthropic 更是成为了重点目标——以至于这家 AI 公司上个月发布了警告，称所有声称出售其股票的未经授权的 SPV 和二级市场均为“诈骗”。但对于那些参与了 Menlo 2024 年授权交易的投资者来说，这种激进的举措获得了丰厚的回报。Menlo 随后又继续投资了该公司的 E 轮和 F 轮融资。
On top of that, Menlo followed up by launching a $100 million startup fund with Anthropic in 2024, which they cutely named Anthology. That fund has since ballooned into capital deployed to date closer to $250 million, a source with knowledge of the fund tells TechCrunch. It has not only backed 60+ companies (and offered them support, like access to Anthropic leaders and credits for Claude), but has also produced a number of returns already. These include Graphite, acquired by Cursor, and Astrix Security, acquired by Cisco.
此外，Menlo 还在 2024 年与 Anthropic 联合推出了一个 1 亿美元的初创基金，他们给这个基金起了一个可爱的名字——Anthology。据一位了解该基金的消息人士告诉 TechCrunch，该基金此后规模迅速扩大，迄今为止已部署的资金接近 2.5 亿美元。它不仅支持了 60 多家公司（并为它们提供了支持，例如接触 Anthropic 领导层的机会和 Claude 的使用额度），而且已经产生了一系列回报。其中包括被 Cursor 收购的 Graphite，以及被思科 (Cisco) 收购的 Astrix Security。
The fund has allowed Menlo to get its finger of the pulse of AI startups, categories, and tech, at the earliest stages. The VC firm has since built a broader rep for AI investing, counting AI stars like OpenRouter, Higgsfield, Legora, Lovable, OpenEvidence, and many others in its portfolio.
该基金使 Menlo 能够在最早阶段就把握住人工智能初创公司、细分领域和技术的脉搏。此后，这家风投公司在人工智能投资领域建立了更广泛的声誉，其投资组合中包括 OpenRouter、Higgsfield、Legora、Lovable、OpenEvidence 等人工智能明星企业。