One of the leading AI startups, Anthropic, is partnering with a venture capital firm, Menlo Ventures, to launch a new fund for AI startups.

Menlo Ventures will provide the capital for the $100 million “Anthology Fund,” while Anthropic’s staffers and AI tech will help identify startups. Funding for early-stage startups through the fund will start at $100,000. The fund will focus on startups building AI safety tools and AI apps with “societal benefits,” echoing Anthropic’s mission to make AI more responsible.

“We’re particularly interested in ventures that leverage AI to enhance human capabilities and productivity in fields such as healthcare, legal services, education, energy, infrastructure, and scientific research,” said Anthropic president Daniela Amodei. “We look forward to working closely with Menlo and the exceptional founders backed by this Fund to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI.”

Anthropic co-founders and siblings Daniela and Dario Amodei are ex-OpenAI engineers who left that startup over concerns that it was scaling up its tech too quickly — and without adequate safeguards. Its startup fund is another example of the company following OpenAI’s footsteps while emphasizing its own values. OpenAI launched its own $175 million fund for AI startups in 2021.

Anthropic is still worth just a quarter of its rival but recently scored a major investment from Amazon.

Venture capital funding for AI has helped prop up private capital markets during a tough macroeconomic environment. Nearly half of all U.S. VC funding so far in 2024 has been for AI startups, according to a recent PitchBook report. In the second quarter, multi-billion dollar funding rounds for AI startups CoreWeave and xAI accounted for more than a quarter of the total value of all deals.

By the numbers

$100 million: Capital for Anthropic and Menlo Ventures’ Anthology Fund

$175 million: Value of OpenAI startup fund

$80 billion: Value of OpenAI

$18 billion: Value of Anthropic