Tonada, a Stockholm-headquartered startup that generates royalty-free, AI-composed background music for retail and hospitality venues, has closed a $3 million pre-seed funding round.
The company builds a unique, ever-evolving catalogue of original songs for each client by analysing a brand’s visual identity, tone, and market positioning. The resulting music avoids repeated loops and carries no licensing obligations, removing the legal risks businesses face when playing personal streaming accounts in commercial settings.
Tonada was founded by Juan Manuel Serruya, a former engineering lead at Spotify, and Jonathan Andersson, previously Head of Sales at Wolt. The pair set out to replace the widespread but unlicensed use of consumer Spotify accounts in shops, restaurants, and hotels, a practice that can incur fines.
The round was led by Antler, with participation from Spintop Ventures, RTP Global, Triple A VC, and Karaoke Club. Angel investors included Guillermo Rauch, founder of Vercel, and Dora Palfi Osika, a scout for Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
The capital will be directed toward product development and international expansion.
Co-founder Juan Manuel Serruya said:
“Every brand deserves its own sound. Brands have a CMS for their website, a POS for their checkout, a CRM for their customers, and nothing for how their spaces actually feel. This round lets us build that layer at the pace the market is asking for. Music is the first surface. It is not the last.”
