The Massachusetts-based startup more than doubled its valuation in seven months, and plans to grow its headcount by as much as 70% by year end
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Suno, the AI music-generation startup, raised more than $400 million in a Series D funding round at a $5.4 billion post-money valuation, the company said on Wednesday. The round was led by Bond Capital, alongside IVP, Forerunner, Union Square $SQ Ventures, Alkeon, and Quiet. Existing investors Matrix, Lightspeed, Menlo Ventures, and Schroders Capital also participated.
The raise more than doubled Suno's valuation from $2.45 billion, where it last raised capital roughly seven months ago, according to TechCrunch. At that prior round, Suno raised $250 million, according to Bloomberg.
Co-founder and CEO Mikey Shulman told Bloomberg that the fresh funding will go toward building out its workforce, launching new offerings, and pushing the company's expansion forward. With a current workforce of around 200 people, Shulman told Bloomberg the company is targeting staff growth of up to 70% before 2026 is out. As of February, the company had crossed the 2 million subscriber threshold and was projecting annual revenue of $300 million, according to Bloomberg.
"Having more capital allows us to operate the business differently and take some bigger swings," Shulman told Bloomberg.
A music model built jointly with Warner Music Group — which resolved its copyright claims against Suno last November through a licensing deal — is expected to reach users within the next few months, the company said. The company indicated that deals with other industry players could follow, though it stopped short of naming any, according to Reuters.
Not all major labels have reached terms with Suno. Universal Music Group and Sony $SONY Music continue to pursue copyright litigation against the company, according to TechCrunch. The labels recently sought to broaden their complaint, adding allegations that upward of 61,000 songs were fed into Suno's training data without authorization, TechCrunch reported. Separately, class-action suits targeting both Suno and competitor Udio have drawn backing from over 1,800 independent artists, according to Reuters.
Users of the Cambridge, Massachusetts platform can type in a description — naming a mood, a style, a set of instruments, or even specific words — and receive a finished song in return. The company said it has reached the top of the App Store's music category charts in dozens of countries.
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