A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya is a startup from a former Spotify leader for making music apps
Former Spotify innovation head raises $5.5M pre-seed for A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, a startup building playful music-creation apps with selective generative AI features.
A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, founded by former Spotify head of innovation Máuhan M Zonoozy, raised a $5.5M pre-seed round from Mantis VC, SV Angel, Boxgroup, Quiet Capital and others. The startup ships small music-play apps including Speed Surfer, Usersound, Stacks, Drops, Sampler, and the iOS mixer app bop, plus a new prompt-based sound creation feature. Zonoozy says the company deliberately avoids infusing AI into every product, arguing human taste and participation become more valuable as AI-generated content grows abundant.
- $5.5M pre-seed from Mantis VC, SV Angel, Boxgroup and other investors
- Founded by Máuhan M Zonoozy, former Spotify head of innovation
- Apps include bop iOS mixer, Speed Surfer extension, and YouTube-based Sampler
- Founder intentionally limits generative AI in favor of human interaction
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oldest first · one row per article · UTC- · Sep 14, 2026
TechCrunch · AIFirst report
A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya is a startup from a former Spotify leader for making music apps
Former Spotify innovation head raises $5.5M pre-seed for A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, a startup building playful music-creation apps with selective generative AI features.
- · Sep 14, 2026
A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya is a startup offering fun music apps without any AI prompting
Ex-Spotify innovation head raised a $5.5M pre-seed for A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, building non-AI music-play apps like bop.