Menlo Ventures, which backed startups such as Chime and Harness, has raised $1.35bn for funds that will invest in AI-related technology companies. According to Matt Murphy, partner at Menlo Ventures, the new capital will be split between early stage fund Menlo XVI and early growth fund Menlo Inflection III. Murphy stated that their investments will focus on both startups and those at the beginning of the momentum. He also stated that he will not invest in the next stages.
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Menlo Ventures
Not every investment needs to be an AI investment. But we believe this is where the most exciting innovations will be sparked. However, we also believe that as AI becomes more sophisticated, we will increasingly rely on AI-powered tools and services to make us faster, smarter and better at what we do. At that point, AI will lose its novelty and become an unsurprising, if not expected, collaborator throughout the day. Many of the companies already in the market with products and services that lack AI capabilities have quickly begun to layer AI capabilities to stay competitive and relevant in this new age of AI.
Venky Ganesan, Partner at Menlo Ventures
The firm said it raised more than $3.8 billion across eight fund groups with the new funds. Over the years, Menlo has witnessed the exit of 80 portfolio companies, 15 of which went public. These companies include Getaround, Carbonite, Gilead, Roku, and Rover.
In addition, the firm stated that it made seed and early-stage investments in 24 unicorns in the corporate, consumer and healthcare sectors, and 65 of its portfolio companies were acquired. These acquired companies include StrataCam, Tenor and PillPack. Recent Menlo investments include a $40 million Series B raise from leader Finch and a $34 million investment from Sana Labs. It also participated in AI Darling Anthropic’s $450 million raise in May.
AI represents a seismic shift that will add trillions of dollars of value to the global economy. Menlo will help write the next chapter. But it also plans to invest in health/digital health, consumer, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech and SaaS startups.
Menlo Ventures