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Aiva
Techstars '17Los Angeles, US · Founded 2016 · 3 employees on LinkedIn · 3 known investors
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AIVA is an AI music generation assistant that creates original songs across more than 250 styles in seconds, with customizable style models and support for multiple file formats. The platform serves music creators from beginners to professionals, offering tiered plans with varying copyright ownership and monetization rights.
Also known as AIVA · Aiva Technologies · Aiva Technologies SARL · Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist
Investors · 3
How we know: Kima Ventures's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026AIVA (Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist), operated by Aiva Technologies SARL, develops an AI system that generates original musical compositions. Through a web application, users can generate songs in more than 250 styles within seconds, create custom style models, upload an audio or MIDI file as an influence for generation, edit generated tracks and export them in multiple file formats including MP3, MIDI and WAV. The product is positioned for both beginners and experienced music makers, and the company also markets to enterprises and to students and schools via custom or discounted plans.
The underlying technology was originally presented as an AI composer for media soundtracks — music for movies, commercials, games and television — trained by analysing large collections of works by established composers, with the stated goal of producing emotionally expressive compositions. The company has framed its approach as collaboration between AI and human musicians rather than replacement: AIVA's debut album, Genesis, for piano and symphonic orchestra, was recorded with human artists including conductor Olivier Hecho, pianist Eric Breton and producer Pierre Barreau, and the catalogue on the company site includes over 150 AIVA-generated tracks arranged by humans.
Licensing is a central part of the offering. Depending on the subscription plan, downloaded MIDI and audio compositions carry a non-commercial licence (copyright retained by AIVA, attribution required), a limited commercial licence permitting monetisation on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram, or a full assignment of copyright to the user on the Pro plan. Licences are worldwide and perpetual. The end-user agreement restricts reverse engineering, unauthorised private API calls, use of outputs as machine-learning training data, and large-scale redistribution, directing high-volume use cases to a separate API licensing agreement.
Founding story
The company was founded in 2016 by Pierre Barreau (CEO), Denis Shtefan (CTO) and Vincent Barreau (COO). Pierre Barreau is a computer scientist, director and composer; Denis Shtefan is a published researcher and composer leading R&D in music generation; Vincent Barreau is an engineer and musician heading operations.
Business model
Aiva Technologies sells access to its AI music generation platform directly to end users on a freemium subscription basis, with separately negotiated custom plans for enterprises (defined in its licence terms as businesses with three or more employees and over $300k of prior-year revenue) and discounted arrangements for students and schools. High-volume or automated generation use cases are handled through a separate API licensing agreement.
Tiered subscriptions for individuals: a free plan (€0, non-commercial use, 3 downloads per month, tracks up to 3 minutes, MP3 and MIDI, attribution required and copyright retained by AIVA); a Standard plan at €11 per month plus VAT billed annually (15 downloads per month, tracks up to 5 minutes, monetisation limited to YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram); and a Pro plan at €33 per month plus VAT billed annually (300 downloads per month, tracks up to 5 minutes 30 seconds, all file formats including high-quality WAV, full copyright transferred to the user). Monthly billing is also offered, with annual billing discounted 26% on Standard and 33% on Pro. Enterprise pricing is custom.
Traction
The company's site publishes a catalogue of over 150 AIVA-generated tracks arranged by human musicians and a section of client logos. AIVA obtained worldwide composer status with the SACEM music society and released a debut album, Genesis, for piano and symphonic orchestra.
Latest developments
A March 2026 report stated that Aiva Technologies SARL had secured $1.7 million to accelerate research and development, enhance AIVA's compositional capabilities, refine its algorithms and explore new applications for AI-generated music in the entertainment and media industries.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Aiva Technologies operates in generative AI for music, serving both consumer/creator segments and media soundtrack use cases. Reported figures place the company at six employees with $1.7M in total funding as of 2026.
The company emphasises breadth of styles (250+), user-trainable custom style models, influence-based generation from uploaded audio or MIDI, editable outputs and export in all common file formats, alongside a licensing model that transfers full copyright of compositions to Pro subscribers. AIVA has been registered as a composer with the SACEM music society, and its output has been released commercially on the album Genesis recorded with human musicians.
Technology
The system generates both MIDI scores and audio files (WAV, MP3) from AI models trained on large collections of music by established composers. Users can build their own style models and supply an uploaded MIDI or audio "influence" from which AIVA generates a new composition sharing some of its emotional qualities; uploaded influences are licensed to the company for training its AI systems. The platform runs as a hosted service with private APIs available only under separate licensing.
Go-to-market
Self-serve sign-up on the company website with a free tier and paid monthly or annual subscriptions, supplemented by a contact form and live chat for student, school and enterprise plans, and by direct enterprise engagement for custom licences and API access. Public demonstration of output — a catalogue of over 150 generated tracks and the album Genesis — is used to showcase the technology.
Individual music creators ranging from beginners to professional music makers, content creators who need music for YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram, media producers requiring soundtracks for film, games, commercials and television, enterprises, and students and schools.
Geography
The operating entity, AIVA Technologies Sarl, is based in Luxembourg; licences granted to users cover worldwide territory. The team page lists staff with backgrounds across Europe and beyond.
History
Founded in 2016, Aiva Technologies developed an AI composer for emotional soundtracks for movies, video games, commercials and television, built by training on large collections of works by classical composers. The AI was granted worldwide composer status by the SACEM music society and released the album Genesis, recorded with human artists. The team expanded with research and engineering hires from 2019 onward, including R&D engineers focused on music engine optimisation, machine learning and computer-aided composition. The product later evolved into a self-serve AI music generation assistant with more than 250 styles, custom style models and tiered commercial licensing. A $1.7M funding round was reported in 2026.
Risks & controversies
The end-user licence requires users uploading their own MIDI or audio "influences" to grant the company a worldwide, perpetual, commercial and transferable licence to train its AI systems on that material, and places responsibility for third-party rights infringement in uploaded influences on the user. Copyright ownership of generated compositions varies by subscription tier, with free and Standard users not owning their outputs, and the agreement bars using AIVA outputs to build competing services or as training data for other machine-learning systems.
Compiled by commissioned research from 9 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Related companies · 4
Companies working in the same space as Aiva.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsAIVA acquired worldwide status as a composer within the SACEM music society.
Aiva Technologies SARL, developer of the AI composer AIVA, was reported to have secured $1.7 million to accelerate R&D, enhance compositional capabilities, refine algorithms and explore new applications for AI-generated music.
$1.7M source ↗
AIVA's debut album for piano and symphonic orchestra, Genesis, was recorded in collaboration with human artists including conductor Olivier Hecho, concert pianist Eric Breton and producer Pierre Barreau.
Kima Ventures lists Aiva, described as an artificial intelligence composing emotional soundtracks for movies, video games and commercials, among its portfolio companies.
The company states it is co-funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme under grant #876982.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 9
primary sources listed
- Aivaaiva.ai · web
9 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Aiva do?
- AIVA is an AI music generation assistant that composes original tracks in over 250 styles for creators and media producers.
- Who are Aiva's investors?
- Aiva's investors include Kima Ventures, Techstars, Act One Ventures.
- Where is Aiva headquartered?
- Aiva is headquartered in Los Angeles, US.