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On Wednesday, July 17, Eastern Time, Anthropic and Menlo Ventures announced the launch of a $100 million fund, the Anthology Fund, which aims to support early-stage AI startups and provide resources for using Anthropic AI technology.

This move draws on the successful experience of Apple's iFund.In 2008, Apple and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins launched iFund with an initial capital of $100 million to support early developers who developed applications on Apple mobile platforms such as the iPhone and iPad. This model helped Apple gain a deep understanding of the needs of early developers and promoted the development of the Apple ecosystem. Two years later, the size of iFund increased to $200 million.

Matt Murphy, partner at Menlo, said:

“iFund is the inspiration for the Anthology Fund. iFund has been a huge success, not only allowing Apple to gain in-depth insights into the needs of early developers and what they need to pay more attention to, but also allowing developers to directly understand some of Apple’s sales ideas. There are many similarities between them.”

As for investments and credit lines,Menlo Ventures will provide $100 million in investment funds, and Anthropic will provide startup founders with a $25,000 credit line for use of its large language model. These resources will help startups overcome the high initial costs of AI and promote their development.

Matt Murphy pointed out that the current AI wave is 10 to 100 times faster than any previous wave of innovation, and the development speed of AI is faster than the development speed of the iPhone. This means that AI startups need faster support and resources to keep up with the pace of technological development.

In addition to financial support, Anthropic provides mentoring, quarterly meetups, and other resources., including a direct contact channel similar to a hotline (“Bat Phone”) to help startups quickly get started and develop in the field of AI. Daniela Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, explained in an interview with the media:

“In the field of AI, high initial costs can hinder a company’s growth. Our goal is to provide the necessary support. We not only provide a line of credit, but also guidance on how to get started in this ecosystem.”

However, Anthropic will not obtain shares or financial benefits from the startup, but will establish a feedback mechanism through cooperation with developers. In this way, Anthropic can continuously improve its products and technologies based on the feedback from developers, forming a virtuous circle.

Murphy emphasized that the Anthology Fund provides Anthropic, Menlo Ventures, and the entrepreneurs who will be funded in the coming years with a unique opportunity to build a community together to do some of the most disruptive and innovative work and truly achieve great things.

In terms of market competition,Anthropic competes directly with OpenAI, which also has its own venture capital fund, the OpenAI Venture Fund, which its website claims aims to "invest $175 million to help AI companies have a profound positive impact on the world."

As funding for AI startups grows rapidly, investors are scrambling to get in on the hottest AI deals.According to Crunchbase data, funding for AI startups doubled in the second quarter from the first quarter to more than $24 billion, which shows the market's huge interest and confidence in AI startups.