Artos Inc., operating under the name Mozart AI, has announced the successful closure of a $6 million seed funding round. The investment was led by Balderton Capital and is earmarked for advancing the company's generative AI-powered music creation engine.
The funding round saw participation from Eventbrite Inc. co-founder Kevin Hartz, Oscar-winning director Charles Ferguson, as well as Mercuri, EWOR, and Emery Wells. Additional backing came from existing investors and strategic angel investors within the music, AI, and creator technology sectors. This recent capital infusion follows a $1.1 million pre-seed round completed just months prior, bringing the company's total funding to over $7 million.
The company describes its platform as a digital audio workstation (DAW) built by musicians for artists and music enthusiasts. While the core DAW concept has existed since the 1990s, Mozart AI has been modernized and tailored for a new generation of creative professionals.
Mozart AI's newly developed generative audio workstation facilitates AI-assisted music composition from scratch and prompt-driven agentic music creation.
Utilizing this tool, users can generate multi-instrumental music tracks while maintaining control over elements like melody, harmony, and vocals. Furthermore, integrated image generation models can produce accompanying artwork for music projects. After fine-tuning and mastering their creations, users can leverage the company's services to generate music videos up to one minute in length.
"The creative process has always been central to music-making and the role music plays in shaping global culture," stated Sundar Arvind, Co-founder and CEO. "AI is not replacing creativity; it is amplifying the passion musicians bring to crafting and discovering the right sound."
The launch of Mozart AI's tools coincides with a broader shift in the online music landscape driven by AI. The company's marketing highlights this traction, claiming over 100,000 users have created more than one million songs within two months. Some artists have already released AI-assisted music on Spotify, accumulating over 10 million streams.
AI Music Enters the Mainstream
AI-generated songs are increasingly appearing on major digital platforms, including Spotify. Recently, a track titled "Walk My Walk" by Breaking Rust entered Spotify's country music charts, sparking debate among artists. While the specific achievement may be nuanced, it clearly signals the market arrival of AI-generated music.
Throughout 2024, artists and musicians have called for safeguards against the potential misuse of AI. While acknowledging AI's immense potential to augment human creativity, they have also condemned irresponsible uses that could erode trust in music. Concerns have been raised about a predatory and problematic impact on the industry if markets become saturated with synthetic music.
"Mozart AI is building powerful generative tools for the next era of collaborative music creation, empowering every artist—from casual creators to professional producers—to transform any idea into a release-ready song with commercial rights in minutes," Arvind added.
Mozart AI is entering a market alongside other generative music creation startups, such as Suno Inc., which also provides tools for professionals and amateurs to create their own music. Enterprise AI giants and large language model companies are also active in this space, with offerings including Nvidia Inc.'s Fugatto, Stability AI Ltd.'s Stable Audio Open, Meta Platforms Inc.'s MusicGen, and ElevenLabs Inc.
