Suno, the music industry’s most prominent AI music generation platform, has raised $400 million at a post-cash valuation of $5.4 billion, the company announced Wednesday.
Bond Capital, a venture capital firm whose portfolio includes OpenAI, Substack and Kalshi, led the round along with IVP, Forerunner, Union Square Ventures, Alkeon and Quiet, with Matrix, Lightspeed, Menlo Ventures and Schroders Capital also participating, Sono said. It is worth noting that Sono also said that major artists, songwriters and producers also participated in the tour, although the company did not reveal their identities.
The funding round comes just six months after Suno previously announced a $250 million financing round that valued the company at $2.45 billion.
“We’ve seen Suno used by professional producers and songwriters, but also by millions of people making music for the first time — because creating music is no longer the domain of a few people,” Suno CEO Mickey Shulman said in a blog post announcing the new funding round on Wednesday. “It has become one of the most human things we do, a way for people to connect, remember and connect. What started as a simple idea has evolved beyond what we imagined, and today, we are excited to share an important milestone.”
Suno remains one of the most controversial companies in the music industry, with its ability to create entire songs in seconds with just a text prompt from the user. The major music companies filed a lawsuit in 2024 based on allegations of widespread copyright violations from the world’s biggest artists and songwriters, although last November, Warner Music Group announced a settlement and a new partnership with the company. UMG and Sony remain in active litigation.
Earlier this year in an interview with thr, Schulman said he is seeing a market shift in how businesses view AI, as professional creators embrace its platform alongside more everyday users.
“I don’t meet many producers and songwriters who don’t use Suno at least a little bit in their workflow,” Schulman said. “I think people are starting to feel a little more comfortable talking openly and openly about using it, and more importantly, I think they’re a little more optimistic about the future. It’s not true for everyone, but there’s definitely a shift in the market.”
Actual consumption of all AI music seems to be very low. French music streaming service Deezer reported earlier this year that up to 85 percent of AI music consumption on the platform is fraudulent, while Apple Music said a trickle of AI music makes up less than 1 percent of weekly consumption on its service.
However, Suno said earlier this year that it had surpassed 2 million paid subscribers, and is currently the third most popular app in the Music section of Apple’s App Store.
In a blog post on Wednesday, Shulman said his new model developed in partnership with WMG, the first industry-certified model since the company was founded in 2021, will be rolled out “in the coming months.”
“We believe there is a huge opportunity to create new fan experiences while helping artists reach audiences, build community, and open up new creative and economic possibilities,” Schulman said.
