By George Ward
Funding for AI Startups
Anthropic, a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, and venture capital firm Menlo Ventures have partnered to create a $100 million fund called the Anthology Fund. This fund will support early-stage AI companies, particularly those innovating with generative AI technology.
The Anthology Fund aims to provide significant resources to AI startups in infrastructure, novel applications (in industries like healthcare and education), consumer AI solutions, trust and safety tools, and technologies that benefit society.
Startups that receive backing from the Anthology Fund will benefit financially and gain access to Anthropic’s AI products and research. Additionally, these companies will receive $25,000 in credits to use Anthropic’s AI models and support from Menlo Ventures.
Championing AI Growth
Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former members of OpenAI, has rapidly become a notable player in the AI field; the company is best known for its AI chatbot, Claude. Similarly, Menlo Ventures has a strong track record of investing in AI and tech companies.
Over the years, Menlo Ventures has raised approximately $4 billion to invest in AI advancements, demonstrating its commitment to fostering innovation in this critical field. In the past year, Anthropic has secured $4 billion from Amazon and $2 billion from Google. These investments highlight industry leaders’ confidence in Anthropic’s vision and capabilities.
Grayscale Launches New Decentralized AI Crypto Fund
Meanwhile, Grayscale Investments, a prominent name in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, has launched a new investment fund focusing on decentralized artificial intelligence (AI). This new Decentralized AI Fund aims to give investors access to cutting-edge AI protocols within the crypto ecosystem, marking an innovative step in combining AI technology with blockchain’s decentralization.
The fund, which will be rebalanced quarterly, involves five AI protocols: Filecoin (FIL), Bittensor (TAO), Livepeer (LPT), Render (RNDR), and Near (NEAR). These protocols represent different aspects of the decentralized AI landscape, ranging from AI services to infrastructure solutions.
Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Head of Product & Research at Grayscale, emphasized that the rise of new technologies has consistently provided unique opportunities for Grayscale’s investors. Hence, the new fund offers a chance to invest in decentralized AI technologies at an early stage, capitalizing on their potential for growth and innovation.
Categories of Coverage
The Decentralized AI Fund is structured to cover three main categories within the decentralized AI sector. The first category includes protocols developing AI services, such as chatbots and tools for image generation.
The second category includes those that address issues related to centralized AI, such as authentication processes, combating deep fakes, and preventing misinformation. The third category involves those that provide critical infrastructure for AI development, including decentralized marketplaces for data storage, 3D rendering, GPU computation, and streaming services.