Benchmark vs Menlo Ventures

Hone Raises $60M for AI Agents

Hone, a San Francisco-based AI startup founded by Austrian Moritz Stephan, has raised a $60 million seed round led by Benchmark and Index Ventures, valuing the company at $285 million. Hone develops 'Engines'—autonomous AI agents that manage entire business goals over weeks or months, learning a company's systems and processes while operating under guardrails like simulated decisions and human approval for sensitive actions. Early customers include Cognition and Modal. The funding will support expansion in the competitive AI agent market, where rivals include Decagon, Sierra, and Salesforce's Agentforce. Co-founders Oliver Brady and Carlo Kobe bring experience from Harvey, Mercor, and Fizz. The company has not yet disclosed revenue or customer results.

• Hone raised $60 million in a seed round led by Benchmark and Index Ventures.
• The round values Hone at $285 million.
• Hone builds autonomous AI agents called 'Engines' that manage business goals.

Hone Raises $60M for AI Agents

Austrian founder Moritz Stephan's AI startup Hone, based in San Francisco, has raised $60 million in a seed round led by Benchmark and Index Ventures. The company builds autonomous AI agents, or 'engines', that manage entire business goals over weeks or months, such as improving customer retention or reducing procurement costs. Hone is valued at $285 million. Early customers include AI coding startup Cognition and AI infrastructure firm Modal. Investors Peter Fenton (Benchmark) and Shardul Shah (Index) join the board, with Elad Gil and SV Angel also participating. The funding will be used to scale operations and acquire more enterprise clients.

• Hone raised $60 million in a seed round led by Benchmark and Index Ventures.
• The funding values Hone at $285 million.
• Hone builds autonomous AI agents ('engines') that manage business goals.

Benchmark Leads Funding in Chip Startup Tendrils Compute

Benchmark has won a competitive process to lead a new funding round for Tendrils Compute, an early-stage chip startup based in Cambridge, UK, according to sources. The company is already discussing a fast follow-up raise that could value it at over $1 billion. Tendrils is developing general-purpose chips based on interaction nets, an obscure graph-based computing model, aiming to address CPU bottlenecks in AI agent workloads. The deal reflects a broader resurgence in chip investments, with other startups like Etched, Fractile, OLIX, Euclyd, Delos Data, and Volantis Semiconductors raising significant capital. Venture firms are increasingly backing specialized chip startups due to the AI compute demand, despite the sector's capital intensity and cyclicality.

• Benchmark leads a new funding round for Tendrils Compute.
• Tendrils Compute is discussing a follow-up raise at a potential valuation of over $1 billion.
• Tendrils is developing general-purpose chips based on interaction nets.

Menlo’s Investment in Factory: The System That Builds Software

Coding is AI’s first killer use case, with the world generating more code this year than in all previous years combined. Menlo Ventures has invested in Factory, a company building the system that builds software, as part of the AI coding startup’s latest funding round, announced last month at a $5 billion valuation. The investment follows a public dispute between Factory's CEO, Matan Grinberg, and investor Chris Degnan, who left to join competitor Cognition. Vinod Khosla, an investor in both companies, criticized Factory as a 'struggling second tier competitor.' Menlo's investment is seen as a strong endorsement, with partner Matt Murphy praising the company. The exact amount was not disclosed but described as significant.

• Menlo Ventures invested in AI coding startup Factory as part of its latest funding round.
• Factory's latest funding round was announced last month at a $5 billion valuation.
• Menlo's investment followed a public dispute between Factory's CEO and investor Chris Degnan.

Menlo Ventures Welcomes Alex Kurland as Newest Partner; Stripe to Acquire OpenRouter

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.

Lovable Raises $400M at $13.3B Valuation, Doubling from Previous Round

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.
• The round was co-led by Menlo Ventures and the Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT.