Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy explains what AI startups founders must do differently
Anthropic leaped to a $47 billion revenue run rate by May, compared to $9 billion in 2025. It’s the kind of growth that Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy says he’s never seen in 25 years of investing, not in the internet wave, not in mobile, not in the first cloud boom. Menlo led Anthropic’s $500M Series D, and Murphy has had a front-row seat as the company went from a pre-revenue, pre-launch bet to one of the most valuable startups out there.
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Julie Bort talks with Murphy about backing Anthropic before anyone else would, why a great model was never the point, and what’s driving the fastest-growing startups he’s ever seen.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University. You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing theresa.loconsolo@techcrunch.com . View Bio Julie Bort Venture Editor
Scale faster. Grow your portfolio. Gain practical expertise. No matter your goal, Disrupt can empower you. Save up to $330 toda y!
Jack Dorsey is taking on Slack with Buzz, a group chat platform for teams and their AI agents
Light made a flip phone — it’s colorful and it’s cheap
AI music generator Suno breach affects 55M users, per Have I Been Pwned
Anthropic’s landmark $1.5B copyright settlement is approved
Google is working on a new AI chip designed to make Gemini more efficient
Judge pauses $110B Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
Coca-Cola suspended production at its Fairlife dairy after a ransomware attack
Latest Equity Episodes
Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy explains what AI startups founders must do differently
Apple’s lawsuit couldn’t come at a worse time for OpenAI
Inside Ode with Anthropic, the private equity-backed startup betting AI services are the future of enterprise
Open source AI matters more than ever, according to Hugging Face’s Clem Delangue
Verified source · TechCrunch
Reported by TechCrunch. Open the original for full media and formatting.
More in Funding
All news
FundingTravis Kalanick’s robotics company raises $1.7B, led by a16z
Uber is also investing in Travis Kalanick's company Atoms, which has made gauzy claims about using industrial AI to modernize the world.
Read at TechCrunch
FundingYope raises $12.3M to build a private social network without algorithms or ads
Yope, a fast-growing social app focused on private groups of friends and family, has raised $12.3 million in seed funding. Instead of chasing creators and algorithmic feeds, the startup is betting that the future of social networking lies in small, private communities powered by messaging, photo sharing, and AI features designed to strengthen real-world relationships.
Read at TechCrunch
FundingAMD and Anthropic reach $5 billion AI infrastructure deal
AMD says it's going to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic, while helping to expand the AI company's computing power, according to an announcement on Wednesday. As part of the new partnership, Anthropic will deploy up to 2 gigawatts of AMD's Instinct MI450 AI GPUs using the chi…
Read at The Verge
FundingAyr Energy Files Counter Claim Against IPO-Bound Zetwerk
The lawsuit comes after Zetwerk Manufacturing USA and Unimacts Global sued Ayr Energy and its founder Reddy in a Texas court in October 2025
Read at Inc42