After betting the firm on Anthropic, Menlo Ventures raises victorious $3B fund

techcrunch.com Jun 24, 2026

After betting the firm on Anthropic, Menlo Ventures raises victorious $3B fund

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Jun 24, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Menlo Ventures has announced its largest fund raise in its 50-year history, securing $3 billion in capital. The firm's investment in Anthropic, a model maker, has proven particularly successful, with its stake now valued at approximately $14 billion. Menlo's aggressive investment strategy, including a $750 million bet on Anthropic in 2024, has paid off, allowing the firm to expand its AI portfolio and establish itself as a leading investor in the field.

💡 Why It Matters

· The success of Menlo Ventures' AI-focused investments highlights the growing importance of artificial intelligence in the venture capital landscape.
· By backing early-stage AI startups and providing them with access to resources and expertise, Menlo is helping to drive innovation and growth in the sector.

Read full article on techcrunch.com

Anthropic drops ‘workplace AI agents’ directly inside Slack

Anthropic has launched a beta version of its Claude Tag feature for Enterprise and Team tiers, integrating its chat model directly into shared Slack channels. Users can pull the artificial intelligence model into active group threads by typing @Claude, allowing team members to delegate tasks, review outputs, and pick up discussion threads from previous points. This integration follows a $65 billion funding round and aims to reduce back-and-forth movement between team chats and browser instances. Anthropic's enterprise adoption rate has reached 34.4%, surpassing OpenAI's 32.3% footprint.

💡 The shift to shared workplace AI agents like Claude Tag could fundamentally alter how companies manage knowledge work, reducing task friction and capturing context across changing project teams. By centralizing information logs directly inside active threads, companies can optimize routine knowledge work and reduce time spent on manual codebase tracking or database updates.

techcrunch.com · Jun 22

When the Trump administration cracks down on Anthropic, who benefits?

The Trump administration issued an export control order against Anthropic, forcing the company to take its two newest AI models offline due to national security concerns. The order was prompted by Amazon researchers allegedly finding a way to bypass one of the model's guardrails, which was reported to the White House. Anthropic's relationship with the Trump administration has been strained, and the move has sparked debates about AI policy and digital sovereignty. The company's rivals may not face similar crackdowns, and the incident could potentially benefit Anthropic through increased publicity. The situation has been criticized by cybersecurity experts, who argue that the order is dangerous and unnecessary.

💡 The crackdown on Anthropic highlights the risks of politicized regulatory decisions in the AI sector. By targeting a specific company, the Trump administration may be creating an uneven playing field that favors other AI labs with better relationships with the government.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com · Jun 21

3,000 Anthropic employees have a question after US government ‘banned’ company’s most…

Anthropic's 3,000 employees are left wondering why the US government suddenly shut down the company's most powerful AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, with less than 90 minutes' notice. The order cited national security concerns, but no explanation was provided, leaving managers to warn customers about an outage without knowing the reason. The models were pulled mid-task, and employees are speculating about the cause, with some suspecting it may be personal rather than technical. The company had to figure out the trigger on its own, tracing it to a research paper from Amazon, which showed Fable 5 could identify flaws in vulnerable code.

💡 The sudden shutdown raises questions about government oversight of AI development, highlighting the lack of transparency and communication between regulators and tech companies. Government intervention in AI development can have far-reaching consequences for the industry.

techcrunch.com · Jun 21

Nobel laureate John Jumper is leaving DeepMind for rival Anthropic

John Jumper, a Nobel laureate, is leaving DeepMind after nearly 9 years to join rival Anthropic. Jumper led the AlphaFold team and was a key member of Google's team developing coding tools. He expressed gratitude to DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis for the opportunity to lead the team. Jumper's departure follows that of Character AI co-founder Noam Shazeer, who is joining OpenAI. Jumper and Hassabis won the Nobel Prize in 2024 for their work on AlphaFold, an AI model that predicts protein structures. Jumper's move is significant, given his contributions to DeepMind's success. He will be joining Anthropic, a rival AI company.

💡 Jumper's expertise in AI-powered protein structure prediction could give Anthropic a competitive edge in the field. His departure also highlights the challenges Google faces in retaining top talent in its AI research division.

techcrunch.com · Jun 20

Is the US government’s Anthropic ban accidentally helping the brand?

The US government has forced Anthropic to pull its two newest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, due to national security concerns. Amazon researchers allegedly found a way to bypass Fable 5's guardrails, prompting the ban. Cybersecurity researchers have signed an open letter calling the move dangerous, noting that similar jailbreaks exist in other models. The ban may have unintended consequences, potentially benefiting Anthropic. The company's platform and upcoming IPO will be affected, with developers and investors closely watching the situation. The ban's impact on Anthropic's future is still uncertain, sparking debate and discussion.

💡 The ban highlights the complex relationship between the US government and Anthropic, with potential implications for the company's growth and development. It also underscores the challenges of regulating AI technology and balancing national security concerns with innovation.

indiatvnews.com · Jun 20

What is Claude AI? Features, benefits and how to use it for…

Claude is an AI chatbot built by Anthropic, designed to help users solve multiple concerns faster and smarter. It can assist with tasks such as asking questions, writing, summarizing documents, coding, and research. Claude focuses on safety, accuracy, and handling long conversations, making it a popular tool among students, professionals, businesses, and content creators. The AI assistant is available via a web interface and mobile apps, and runs on large language models trained on massive amounts of text. Claude can understand normal human conversational language and respond accordingly, providing detailed answers to complicated questions.

💡 Claude's ability to handle long conversations and provide accurate responses fills a critical gap in the AI chatbot market. Its focus on safety and reliability sets it apart from other AI models.