## The Firm Menlo Ventures has been writing checks since 1976 — nearly five decades of backing technology companies before most of the industry's current leaders were born. With $5.8 billion under management across 462 portfolio companies, 80+ IPOs, and 165+ acquisitions, they have the kind of track record that renders most VC marketing irrelevant. But what makes Menlo worth watching right now isn't their pedigree. It's their thesis. ## The AI Cybersecurity Bet In February 2026, Menlo convened their AI Cyber Summit — bringing together CISOs from Anthropic, OpenAI, Box, and Cisco alongside founders from Abnormal AI, Semgrep, and Zafran. The message was stark: **the window for AI defense is closing fast.** The backdrop was alarming. Anthropic had just disclosed the first fully-autonomous nation-state cyber attack. Vulnerabilities that once took weeks to exploit are now weaponized in hours. As Anthropic's Deputy CISO Jason Clinton put it: "The next two years are going to be very bad from a cybersecurity perspective." Menlo's response: pour capital into AI-native security. Their portfolio already includes Abnormal AI (behavioral email defense), Zafran (vulnerability management), and Obsidian (cloud security). They recently hired Rama Sekhar as a dedicated cybersecurity and AI infrastructure partner — a structural commitment to the thesis. ## The Strategic Position Three funds tell the story: - **Menlo XV** ($500M) — early-stage core fund - **Inflection Fund** ($500M) — early-growth investments - **Anthology Fund** ($100M) — created in partnership with Anthropic to fuel AI startups That Anthropic partnership is the differentiator. While most VCs are investing *around* AI, Menlo is investing *inside* the AI infrastructure supply chain — from the models themselves to the security layer that protects them. ## The Contrarian Thesis Here's what Menlo understands that most of the market doesn't: the AI capex race isn't just about compute. Every dollar spent on AI infrastructure creates a dollar of cybersecurity demand. Alphabet's $32 billion in century bonds, Anthropic's $30 billion raise, Meta's data center buildout — all of it is useless if the security layer fails. The firms that control AI security will extract rent from the entire AI economy. Menlo is positioning to own that layer.