Menlo Ventures XVII

United States
Seed
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About Menlo Ventures XVII

Menlo Ventures raised $3B across two funds—the largest in its 50-year history. Fund XVII targets seed and Series A across the full AI stack. The firm's ~$14B Anthropic stake underpins the raise. The Anthology seed program (with Anthropic) has backed 60+ companies with 3 exits. Partners include Matt Murphy, Tim Tully (ex-Splunk CTO), and Deedy Das (ex-Glean).

Investment Focus

Location / RegionUnited States
Funding StageSeed
Industry Focus
AI/ML
Cybersecurity
Digital Health
Enterprise Software

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Technical AI founder building category-defining, full-stack product

AI full-stack
category-defining founders
technical depth
all stages
Anthropic-aligned
consumer-to-enterprise
AI-native cyber
biotech-AI
voice-interface
AI infrastructure
video-AI

Bullish Signals

$3B raised for AI fundsexternal
Led $1.2B unicorn Series C (Assort)external
Lovable portfolio hit $500M ARRexternal
Largest fund raise in Menlo historyexternal
3 portfolio cos on Harmonic Hot 25external
Portfolio exit: Orb acquired by Adyenexternal
Fireworks AI $1.5B Series D partnershipexternal
Chai Discovery $400M Series B biotech-AIexternal
Walden Robotics $300M Series A co-ledexternal
Higgs Field AI 800M media pieces H1 2026external
Wispr Flow $280M Series B, lead investorexternal
Wispr proprietary 2B param speech model Cantoexternal
Higgsfield AI $400M Series B, 30M usersexternal
Lovable $400M Series C, 3rd consecutive roundexternal
Lovable $13.3B valuation, 7x YoY growthexternal
Slingshot AI backed, featured WSJ podcastexternal
Klaviyo acquires Agency, transformative techexternal

Contrarian Signals

Heavy Anthropic concentration riskexternal
AI-only focus narrows diversificationexternal

Founder Do's

Build AI-native, category-defining products
Show technical depth in your domain
Target large markets with compounding data moats
Be ready for Series A–C checks
Have a clear AI stack position
Focus on adoption & usage, not just models
Develop proprietary models for differentiation
Solve real user friction in daily workflows

Founder Don'ts

Don't pitch thin AI wrappers
Don't lack technical differentiation
Don't ignore enterprise scalability

Key GPs & Partners

VG
Venky Ganesan
Partner
AI-thesis-vocalmedia-activecyber-defense
MM
Matt Murphy
Partner
fund-leaderAI-focusedmodel-pragmatist
SC
Shawn Carolan
Partner
AI-focusedconsumer-builder
DX
Derek Xiao
Principal
AI-stack-mappertechnical-depthecosystem-builder
JS
JP Sanday
Partner
healthcare-AIdeal-active
AW
Amy Wu Martin
Partner
AI-therapist-backingmedia-visible

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Fund Overview

Fund Size$3B combined
Saves0

Key People

Venky GanesanPartner
Matt MurphyPartner
Shawn CarolanPartner
Derek XiaoPrincipal
JP SandayPartner
Amy Wu MartinPartner

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