AI music generation leader Suno announced on Wednesday that it has completed a $400 million Series D funding round,with a post-money valuation reaching $5.4 billion (approximately RMB 36.5 billion).
(Source: Company website)
The announcement shows that this round of financing was led by Bond Capital, founded by "Internet Queen" Mary Meeker. Other well-known institutions such as IVP, Union Square Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in this round.
Suno's previous funding round occurred last November, when the company raised $250 million at a valuation of $2.45 billion. Its valuation doubled in just seven months, demonstrating investors' optimistic expectations for the "AI + music" sector and making Suno the highest-valued company in this field.
As one of the most common AI music generation tools on creative platforms like YouTube and Bilibili, Suno allows users to create music from scratch through text prompts. Users can specify music style, timbre, instruments, and lyrics, and the system can almost instantly generate complete digital audio works.
The company reached the milestone of over 2 million subscription users in February this year. At that time, the company also disclosed it was progressing towards an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) level of $300 million.
From "Industry Pariah" to "Taking the Stage"
Suno's series of developments in recent years not only reflect the rapid progress of AI-generated music technology but also bear witness to the shift in attitude from the traditional music industry towards AI tools.
As the "ChatGPT of the music industry," Suno initially gained popularity by allowing anyone to generate complete music with simple prompts. As the volume of AI-generated music surged, the three major record companies (Universal, Sony, Warner) all sued Suno for copyright infringement in 2024.
Times have changed, and with more and more professional creators using AI tools, the industry's attitude has also shifted.
Late last year, Suno reached a settlement with Warner Music and obtained copyright licensing from the latter. The two parties plan to launch a collaborative AI generation product in the coming months, similar to Suno's current tool but with added capabilities for using and referencing Warner songs.
In Wednesday's latest announcement, Suno also mentioned that, as usual, this round of financing received investments from artists, producers, songwriters, and industry executives, but did not disclose specific names.
Co-founder and CEO Mikey Shulman told media on Wednesday that the company decided to raise funds again after receiving interest from external investors following the previous funding round.
To justify its soaring valuation, Suno not only needs to excel as an application for professional musicians but also needs to attract millions of "non-musicians" to create songs—similar to how Anthropic's Claude Code enables people who have never coded to build websites and applications.
Shulman revealed that the company plans to use the funds to accelerate hiring, develop new products, and further drive growth on top of a strong start to the year. Suno currently has about 200 employees and plans to expand its workforce by up to 70% by year-end.
"Having more capital means we can operate the company differently and attempt some bolder projects," Shulman said.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Venture Daily," author: Shi Zhengcheng
