A New Suno Investor Sparks Interest in the Music Industry

The AI music generation platform Suno finds itself face to face with legal issues with copyright holders. Announced on November 19th, 2025, the company had raised $250 million in a Series C funding round, with the final amount estimating the company to be worth $2.45 billion.

Menlo Ventures was the lead investor, a long-standing venture capital fund that aided in funding for several tech brands such as Hotmail and Roku (before eventually being owned by Microsoft).

One such investor, Hallwood Media, holds a powerful involvement with the music industry’s relationship with AI. Founded in 2020 by Neil Jacobson, former President of Universal Music’s Geffen Records, has led the company further into the AI music world.

Danny Jacobson, Hallwood’s Head of A&R, wrote on Instagram, “Meet Hallwood Media Ventures (HMV). And if you’re not familiar with SUNO, please meet one of the most important companies in music (and the fastest growing tool/workstation for Songwriters, Producers, and Artists). We’re proud to have participated through their recent Series C round.”

Hallwood is staffed by very well-connected music insiders, and the company is all in support for AI-generated music. It established itself as a trailblazer in the legitimization of AI music within the industry earlier this year, when it signed Imoliver to a record contract. Imoliver isn’t just an artist, but a “music designer”, as described by Hallwood Media. He uses Suno’s AI platform to “develop lush sonic landscapes.”

“It’s a sign the industry is ready to embrace new ideas and new ways of creating,” says Imoliver. “This isn’t about replacing artists, it’s about expanding what’s possible.”

However, to traditional artists, the idea may seem alarming. Especially when considering what Neil Jacobson had to say about the deal. “Imoliver represents the future of our medium,” the founder of Hallwood Media announced.

Another Hallwood-signed act, the AI-generated Xania Monet, became the first “AI-powered” artist to land on one of Billboard’s airplay charts. Telisha “Nikki” Jones is the inventor of the Xania Monet avatar and her music, starting with feeding a poem she wrote into Suno. “How Was I Supposed To Know?” came out, going viral on TikTok before hitting the number one spot on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart.

Jones had confessed that she wasn’t as great of a singer herself, so she came up with the creation of Xania Monet. “I grew up singing in church, but I can’t do vocals as powerful as what I created with Xania,” Jones said. Eventually, Hallwood Media took Jones on with a multi-million dollar deal.

From this, it seems that AI-generated music and AI platforms are growing at a very rapid pace, and could be seen as part of the future for music. But that also means that more AI music will continue to spring up and cause worry for real, traditional artists.