Menlo Ventures
Early-stage venture capital firm investing heavily in AI startups.
Available information varies by company and source.
Profile record updated:
Company facts
- Official name
- Menlo Ventures
- Entity type
- COMPANY
- Founded
- 1976
- Headquarters
- United States
- Company size
- 10–49
- Market role
- Private Equity, VC & Investor
- Official website
- menlovc.com
What Menlo Ventures does
Menlo Ventures pools capital from limited partners into venture funds and deploys that capital into early-stage startups. It creates value by sourcing promising companies, providing capital and strategic support, and seeking outsized returns through follow-on growth, acquisitions, or public market exits. The firm's economics are tied to fund management and investment performance rather than sale of software, advertising, or media inventory.
Category differentiation
Menlo Ventures is a venture capital firm, not an operating software company, adtech platform, or media owner. It invests in startups rather than selling enterprise software or advertising inventory directly.
Strategic context
AI-supported assessment from the existing company research; distinguish interpretation from sourced facts.
Menlo Ventures is a private venture capital firm founded in 1976 and headquartered in the United States. It invests primarily in early-stage companies, with publicly stated focus areas including AI, bio/healthcare, consumer, cybersecurity and infrastructure. The firm operates as an investor rather than a software vendor or operating media company, using committed fund capital to back startups and generate returns from portfolio appreciation and exits. Its customers are founders and companies seeking venture financing, alongside limited partners that allocate capital into Menlo-managed funds. Menlo monetises through fund economics, principally management fees on assets under management and carried interest on realised investment gains. The June 2026 announcement of $3 billion in new capital reinforces its position as an active institutional investor with strong current fund-raising capacity.
Company news briefing
Briefing updated:
Menlo Ventures maintains its strong momentum in generative AI, supported by Anthropic's rapid scaling to an estimated $47 billion revenue run rate. Portfolio realisations continue through Stripe's acquisition of AI model marketplace OpenRouter, alongside the addition of Alex Kurland as a new partner. Furthermore, Menlo co-led a $400 million Series C round in AI platform Lovable at a $13.3 billion valuation, while portfolio company Listen Labs engaged in high-value acquisition talks with Salesforce following a proposed term sheet.
Business model & monetisation
The firm monetises through venture fund management fees and carried interest on investment gains. Commercially, it raises capital into funds, allocates that capital across portfolio companies, and captures upside when investments appreciate or exit. There is no evidence of SaaS subscription, advertising, transaction take-rate, or licensing revenue.
- Management fees
- Committed capital-based fund management fees
- Carried interest
- Performance participation in realised investment gains
Products & capabilities
No products with linked sources are available in this view.
Recent recorded signals
Dates refer to the source publication. Older entries are historical context, not evidence of a new event.
Menlo Ventures Welcomes Alex Kurland as Newest Partner; Stripe to Acquire OpenRouter
Recorded impact score: 4/5
Menlo Ventures announces the addition of Alex Kurland as its newest partner, and portfolio company OpenRouter has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Stripe.
Wispr raises $280M Series B at $2B valuation
Financials · Recorded impact score: 2/5
Wispr, an AI dictation startup, raised $280 million in a Series B round led by Menlo Ventures at a $2 billion valuation. The funding brings Wispr’s total capital raised to $361 million and will support expansion into new product areas such as a meeting note-taker. Wispr also announced a new speech-understanding model called Canto, which the company says will cut dictation error rates from about 30% to under 10%. Existing backers including Notable Capital, NEA, Neo Ventures, 8VC and MVP Ventures participated, and new investors include Acrew, Forerunner, Goodwater, Peak XV, Together Fund and PLUS Capital. The company has expanded regionally and released an Android app, and it faces competition from other dictation and meeting-notetaker apps.
- Wispr raised $280 million in Series B funding led by Menlo Ventures at a $2 billion valuation.
- With the latest round, Wispr has raised $361 million in total to date.
Lovable Raises $400M at $13.3B Valuation, Doubling from Previous Round
Financials · Recorded impact score: 4/5
Swedish vibe-coding startup Lovable has raised $400 million in a Series C round at a $13.3 billion valuation, more than double its December 2025 valuation of $6.6 billion. The round was co-led by Menlo Ventures and the Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, with participation from Balderton Capital, Tencent, Kaszek Ventures, and others. Returning investors include Accel, DST Global, and Salesforce Ventures. Lovable, launched in 2024, enables non-coders to build software through AI-assisted 'vibe-coding.' The company reports that apps built on its platform see over 900 million visits per month. Customers include Nvidia, Adidas, and Zendesk. Lovable plans to expand its business customer base, grow headcount by 50% to 450 employees across Sweden and the US, and develop more proactive capabilities beyond prompt-based interactions, while continuing to use multiple AI models and post-train open-source models.
- Lovable raised $400 million in Series C funding.
- The round values Lovable at $13.3 billion, double its December 2025 valuation of $6.6 billion.
Explore company relationships
Questions about Menlo Ventures
What is Menlo Ventures?
Menlo Ventures is a private venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups, with focus areas including AI, bio/healthcare, consumer, cybersecurity and infrastructure.
Who uses Menlo Ventures?
Startup founders and management teams use Menlo Ventures for venture financing and strategic backing, while limited partners use its funds as an investment vehicle.
How does Menlo Ventures make money?
Menlo Ventures makes money through fund management fees and carried interest on profitable investment exits.
Sources & coverage
This profile uses public, official and technically observable information. Missing information does not prove that a product or relationship does not exist. The list below does not imply that every profile statement has been verified.
11 publicly documented primary sources and citations linked across the market graph.
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