StrictlyVC Download

This week we'r sharing a conversation from our colleagues at TechCrunch's Equity.

Anthropic leaped to ⁠a $47 billion revenue run rate by May,⁠ compared to $9 billion in 2025. It’s the kind of growth that Menlo Ventures' ⁠Matt Murphy⁠ says he's never seen in 25 years of investing, not in the internet wave, not in mobile, not in the first cloud boom. Menlo led Anthropic's $500M Series D, and Murphy has had a front-row seat as the company went from a pre-revenue, pre-launch bet to one of the most valuable startups out there.



On this episode of TechCrunch's ⁠Equity⁠ podcast, Julie Bort talks with Murphy about backing Anthropic before anyone else would, why a great model was never the point, and what's driving the fastest-growing startups he's ever seen.



Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

Why Menlo bet on Anthropic at a $4 billion pre-revenue valuation when the deal didn't fit cleanly into any of the firm's funds, and why Google and Amazon signing on as investors was an early “green shoot.”

Why Murphy says the model was never the real moat, and how Claude Code, MCP, and Claude Skills turned Anthropic from a strong model into a full platform.

Murphy's take on the backlash to Anthropic's Mythos rollout, and why he pushes back on the idea that it was more marketing than safety.

Why companies like ⁠Lovable⁠ and ⁠Legora⁠ are growing faster than any startups Murphy has seen in 25 years, and what that speed means for founders trying to compete.

Subscribe to Equity on ⁠YouTube⁠,⁠ Apple Podcasts⁠,⁠ Overcast⁠,⁠ Spotify⁠ and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on⁠ X⁠ and⁠ Threads⁠, at @EquityPod.
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Much of American-caught fish is processed overseas, and often in China, before it comes back to the U.S. Shinkei wants to change that with robotics, computer vision, and a vertically integrated supply chain built from scratch.

This episode of StrictlyVC Download was recorded at StrictlyVC Los Angeles 2026. TechCrunch Editor in Chief Connie Loizos sat down with Saif Khawaja, founder and CEO of Shinkei, and Delian Asparouhov of Founders Fund to talk about one of the most unexpected bets in venture capital right now.

They cover everything from the Japanese fish-killing technique that became a startup thesis, why American fish is now being imported into Japanese fish markets for the first time ever, and how Founders Fund thinks about contrarian bets in food and agriculture.
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In this episode, Connie and Alex are joined by Reed Jobs, founder and managing partner of Yosemite, to discuss the firm’s ambitious mission to make cancer nonlethal by building biotech companies from the ground up. Jobs explains why Yosemite pairs venture capital with no-strings-attached research grants, how AI is accelerating drug discovery and clinical trials, and why he believes we’re entering one of the most important eras in the history of medicine.The three also discuss the current state of biotech fundraising, the importance of federal research funding, how Yosemite evaluates breakthrough science, the growing role of AI in healthcare, and why Jobs believes the biggest opportunities in medicine are still ahead of us.
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In this episode, Connie Loizos sits down with Uber Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal to discuss the company's expanding vision beyond ride-hailing, from hotels and travel planning to AI-powered shopping and autonomous vehicles. Sachin explains how Uber decides which new products to build, why the company believes a hybrid network of human drivers and robotaxis is the future, and how AI is reshaping the experience for riders, drivers, and merchants alike.They also discuss Uber's growing travel ecosystem, the strategy behind Uber One, the company's partnerships with autonomous vehicle developers, and why Uber sees itself as the platform connecting consumers, drivers, and AI in the years ahead.
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In this episode, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove sit down with Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson following the company's announcement that it will go public, making it one of the first pure-play humanoid robotics companies to reach the public markets. Peggy explains why she believes the industry is moving beyond flashy demos and into real commercial deployment and how Agility built a $300 million pipeline for its humanoid robot Digit.

They also discuss the economics of humanoid robots, Agility's robots-as-a-service model, how AI is accelerating robot training, what separates real commercial deployments from pilot programs, and why Peggy believes safety will be the defining challenge for the industry. Finally, she shares her perspective on the crowded humanoid robotics race, why Agility chose to go public through a SPAC, and what it will take for robots to eventually work safely alongside people in factories and, one day, in our homes.
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