A robot playing piano at a restaurant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China in 2022. Long Wei/VCG/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Suno, the most prominent artificial intelligence music generation platform in the industry, has announced the close of a $250 million funding round, a deal that the company says values Suno at about $2.45 billion. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, the prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm whose portfolio includes companies like Chime, Roku and Uber as well as prominent AI company Anthropic. Others participating in the round were NVIDIA's venture capital arm NVentures, as well as Lightspeed, Matrix and Hallwood Media. Hallwood - led by longtime music executive Neil Jacobson - signed a first-of-its-kind record deal with a Suno music creator earlier this summer, while another of its AI signees, Xania Monet, had garnered headlines after getting several songs on some of Billboard's charts. Related Stories Business AI Cost and Time Savings, Best Practices in Focus at Tallinn as Scribe Says She Uses "AI for Everything But Writing" Movies 'Synthetic Sincerity' Explores if AI Characters Can Be Taught Authenticity: IDFA "We're seeing the future of music take shape in real time," Mikey Shulman, co-founder and CEO of Suno, said in a statement. "In just two years, we've seen millions of people make their ideas a reality through Suno, from first-time creators to top songwriters and producers integrating the tool into their daily workflows. This funding allows us to keep expanding what's possible, empowering more artists to experiment, collaborate, and build on their creativity. We're proud to be at the forefront of this historic moment for music." Suno still faces a significant legal battle with the major record labels, who sued the company last year on allegations of mass copyright infringement over the use of the companies' catalogs to train Suno's AI model. Rumors have swirled of potential settlements in recent months, while Suno rival Udio settled with Universal Music Group at the end of October. Udio's settlement with UMG appears to mark a change in Udio's business model from pure text-to-music generation toward a more fan-interactive offering where users can engage with artists' music for remixes and mashups. (Udio still faces lawsuits from Sony and Warner Music Group.) Whether Suno would make any such change remains to be seen, though this funding round makes that seem unlikely. "Suno is the world's number one music creation app, making music accessible to everyone," Menlo Ventures partner Amy Martin said in a statement. "Mikey and the team have built something people genuinely love using and millions of fans are on the platform every day, creating original songs and sharing them with friends." THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up NKOTB Donnie Wahlberg Says Extending New Kids on the Block's Las Vegas Residency Was "Too Irresistible to Pass Up" slipknot Slipknot Sells Stake in Catalog to HarbourView (Exclusive) Sabrina Carpenter Sabrina Carpenter Dazzles During Opening Night of Her Nearly Week-Long L.A. Run Post Malone Jack White, Post Malone and Lil Jon to Headline NFL Thanksgiving Halftime Shows Todd Snider Todd Snider, Americana Singer-Songwriter Behind "Alright Guy," Dies at 59 Sunset Marquis New Documentary Pulls the Curtain Back on Famed L.A. Rocker Hangout the Sunset Marquis NKOTB Donnie Wahlberg Says Extending New Kids on the Block's Las Vegas Residency Was "Too Irresistible to Pass Up" slipknot Slipknot Sells Stake in Catalog to HarbourView (Exclusive) Sabrina Carpenter Sabrina Carpenter Dazzles During Opening Night of Her Nearly Week-Long L.A. Run Post Malone Jack White, Post Malone and Lil Jon to Headline NFL Thanksgiving Halftime Shows Todd Snider Todd Snider, Americana Singer-Songwriter Behind "Alright Guy," Dies at 59 Sunset Marquis New Documentary Pulls the Curtain Back on Famed L.A. Rocker Hangout the Sunset Marquis