AI music startup GRAI has raised $9 million in a seed round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Inovo VC, with participation from the a16z Scout Fund and various angels. The company, co-founded by CEO Ilya Liasun, CTO Dima Kamarouski, and president Andrei Avsievich — the Belarusian team behind video app Vochi, previously acquired by Pinterest — is building AI tools that let consumers remix and interact with existing music rather than generate it from scratch.
Liasun argued that music remains one of the last major consumer categories without meaningful social participation, with discovery broken and listening largely passive. GRAI is targeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha users who engage with music through friends and short-form content rather than active creation.
The company is developing a derivatives pipeline and real-time audio systems designed to preserve original tracks while enabling transformation. Crucially, GRAI says it is approaching artists and labels for permission upfront, with the goal of creating new royalty streams from remixing activity.
Featured image: Credit: GRAI
