Menlo Ventures says AI venture now means earlier seed bets and bigger growth rounds
mmurph · x · 2026-07-28
Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy discussed how the firm is thinking about venture investing right now, including why Anthropic’s early rounds did not fit any conventional playbook.
He also described Menlo’s bets on Lovable, Legora, Wispr Flow, and OpenRouter as examples of AI-native software and infrastructure. The conversation highlights a barbell strategy: go earlier at seed, bigger at growth, and care less about ownership in an era where outlier outcomes matter more.
Related event: Menlo Ventures Raises $3B Fund to Double Down on AI(3 posts)→
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