This strategy has worked for Anthropic’s $100 million Anthology Fund; in its first five months, it got to work, backing 18 startups. The fund seeks to select companies which are developing advanced use of Artificial Intelligence in its application.

The first generation of PMP scholars was selected from thousands of applicants and covers various fields of activity. The startups include recruiting software, autonomous coding tools, interpretability, fintech compliance, radiology imaging analysis, non-human identity cybersecurity, customer engagement platforms, consumer nutrition app, and many others. Another eight startups, still unknown to the public, are also in the program at the same level.

Anthology Fund is intertwined between a more conventional corporate startup programme and an incubator. Not only are they getting funded, as checks of $100,000 bore and bigger are handed out, but they are given $25,000 worth of credits for Anthropic’s AI models. This approach offers not only the funds for scaling and innovation but also the exact tools.

Specifically, the fund invests in pre-seed and seed rounds as well as Series A and B and everything in between with a special interest in applications that leverage basic AI models and infrastructure. This is in line with expectations that the second round of AI growth will focus on the application layer of software.

Anthropic’s main backer, Menlo Ventures, views the fund as a correct endeavor. “This is the time for us to collaborate, to develop this ecosystem, and it is amazing to discover brilliant companies leveraging Anthropic, or AI in general,” added Menlo Ventures partner Tim Tully.

The Anthology Fund will allow Menlo Ventures and Anthropic to remain leaders of AI advancements while supporting the innovations that will shape the future of the field.