Anthropic hit a $47 billion revenue run rate by May, up from $9 billion the year before. That kind of leap—from pre-revenue startup to one of the most valuable private companies in tech—is something Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy says he’s never seen in 25 years of investing, not during the internet boom, the mobile wave, or the early cloud surge. Menlo led Anthropic’s $500 million Series D round, and Murphy has watched the company go from a speculative bet to a revenue machine.

On a recent episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Murphy sat down with reporter Julie Bort to explain what’s really driving that growth. The answer, he says, isn’t the quality of the model—it’s the business strategy, the sales engine, and the ability to land enterprise contracts that competitors can’t match. Murphy describes Anthropic as the fastest-growing startup he’s ever backed, and he credits its focus on operational discipline and customer trust, not just AI benchmarks.

The episode covers why Menlo was willing to back Anthropic when few others would, how the company built a go-to-market machine that rivals older tech giants, and what Murphy sees as the real differentiator in the AI arms race. For anyone tracking the business side of AI, it’s a reminder that the best technology doesn’t always win—execution does. You can find the full conversation on Equity, available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and more. Follow the show on X and Threads at @EquityPod.

Source: TechCrunch