MENLO PARK, Calif., Dec. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Menlo Ventures, a leading venture capital firm investing at the forefront of AI, announced its first cohort of 18 companies backed by the $100 million Anthology Fund today. Launched in partnership with Anthropic to accelerate AI-first innovation, the fund has received thousands of applications from entrepreneurs worldwide since its July announcement. This overwhelming response underscores the massive opportunity in frontier AI development and the unique value proposition of combining Menlo’s company-building expertise with Anthropic’s cutting-edge AI technology.
“The inaugural cohort of Anthology Fund is exactly what we envisioned when we launched this initiative with Anthropic,” said Menlo Ventures Partner Matt Murphy. “From groundbreaking research in model interpretability to revolutionizing healthcare delivery, these 18 companies represent the incredible diversity of innovation possible with frontier AI technology.”
The selected companies span a variety of sectors, including:
Research
- Mercor - Mercor is training models that predict job performance better than a human can. Their technology is trusted by customers ranging from startups making their first hires to the largest AI labs hiring thousands of experts to train LLMs.
- All Hands - All Hands AI is an open-source AI platform for autonomous software engineering development, powered by AI and LLMs.
- Goodfire - Goodfire is an applied research lab building AI interpretability tools.
Finance
- Crosswise - Crosswise is a self-building compliance management system for banks and fintechs.
- Accordance - Accordance is an AI platform built for leading tax, audit, and CPA teams.
Healthcare
- Brellium - Brellium automates chart review with clinical-validated AI.
- New Lantern - New Lantern accelerates radiology with cloud- and AI-powered medical image analysis.
Consumer
- Alma - Alma is an AI-native nutrition app.
Security
- Astrix - Astrix is the leader in non-human identity security.
CRM
- BeHeard - BeHeard reimagines feedback by transforming boring surveys into continuous, heart-to-heart conversations with brands.
In addition to the companies named above, the first batch of Anthology Fund-backed companies includes eight stealth startups.
“VCs have largely focused their investments on the foundational layers of AI — hardware and models. Now, the spotlight is shifting to delivering real-world value through transformative end-user applications,” said Menlo Ventures Principal Deedy Das. “Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet stands out as a leader in the enterprise, excelling at tasks like code generation. Teams can now accomplish tasks in days that previously took weeks or months, which is a generational increase in human productivity.”
“The Anthology Fund creates a powerful flywheel—enabling us to work closely with developers pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with Claude, while giving startups the resources and insights they need to build meaningful AI applications,” said Alex Albert, Head of Developer Relations, Anthropic. “Through our partnership with Menlo Ventures, Anthropic can support talented founders with compute credits and technical guidance, while Menlo Ventures brings deep company-building expertise and an incredible network of potential partners and customers.”
About the Anthology Fund
The Anthology Fund is a $100 million initiative designed to accelerate the growth of AI-first companies and drive the next wave of artificial intelligence innovation. Launched in 2024 by Menlo Ventures, a leading early-stage venture capital firm, and Anthropic, a pioneer in AI safety and research, the fund invests $100,000+ in seed to expansion-stage startups leveraging Anthropic’s advanced AI technology. To learn more or apply, visit the Anthology Fund.
About Menlo Ventures
Menlo Ventures, is a leading early-stage venture capital firm investing at the forefront of AI. Our portfolio includes more than 80 public companies and over 165 exits through mergers and acquisitions. Currently managing more than $6 billion in assets, we invest at every stage across Consumer, Enterprise, and Healthcare. Our portfolio companies include Abnormal Security, Anthropic, Benchling, Carta, Chime, Harness, Pinecone, Poshmark, Pillpack, Recursion, Roku, Rover, Siri, Typeface, Uber, and Warby Parker. We strive to have a positive impact on everything we do. When we’re in, we’re ALL IN, and we are ALL IN on AI.
About Anthropic
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that creates reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Our flagship product is Claude, an AI assistant that is designed to be powerful, reliable and steerable.
For more details on the Anthology Fund and its portfolio companies, visit Anthology Fund.
Media Contact
menlo@nectarpr.com
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