Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy explains why Anthropic is winning (and it’s not the model)
Menlo Ventures investor Matt Murphy discusses the rapid growth of Anthropic, attributing its success to factors beyond just its AI model performance. The discussion highlights the shifting landscape of AI investment and the company's unprecedented revenue trajectory.
Why it matters
Understanding the drivers behind Anthropic's growth provides insight into the competitive dynamics of the high-stakes generative AI industry.
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.
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