Menlo Ventures has announced a $1.35 billion capital raise.

The private equity firm said the new funding would be invested by its flagship venture fund Menlo XVI and Menlo Inflection III and their affiliated funds, with a mandate to invest in promising technology companies “leading the AI transformation”.

Partner at Menlo Ventures Venky Ganesan said in light of the fresh capital the company’s central focus would be on supporting the forthcoming generation of AI startups.

No stranger to the AI market, Menlo has previously invested in Anthropic, Lindy, and clarifai.

“Focusing on AI, we will continue on our mission to identify outlier companies before they are obvious, to back and build category leaders, and to support them as they grow,” he said. “With their immense potential, early-stage AI startups embody the prospect of revolutionary innovation.”

Menlo Ventures partner Shawn Carolan commented that it was an exciting time to be involved in venture capital.

“The entire tech sector is buzzing with excitement for what’s to come,” he said. “AI will introduce entirely new categories of products and supercharge existing ones.”

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