Menlo Ventures partner Matt Murphy and his team announced on Monday that the firm has invested in AI coding startup Factory. While Menlo declined to disclose the investment amount, it is part of Factory’s latest funding round, which was announced last month at a $5 billion valuation. A source familiar with the deal indicated that the investment was significant for Menlo and that they would have invested more had there been room on the cap table.
Context
Ordinarily, such investments might not make headlines, as startups frequently extend previous funding rounds to attract new investors. However, last week, Factory co-founder and CEO Matan Grinberg was involved in a public dispute when he alleged that he had fired investor Chris Degnan of RPT Partners from his role as board advisor. Grinberg expressed concerns that Degnan may have shared confidential information with Factory’s largest competitor, Cognition. This accusation followed Degnan’s transition to Cognition as its chief revenue officer.
