DJ Reinier Zonneveld's AI music startup GasLab raises $1M pre-seed

Dutch DJ and producer Reinier Zonneveld unveiled GasLab (Generative AI Solutions Lab), a platform for creating music with generative AI, in October 2026. The startup has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding. Its stated aim is to make sure artists whose music shapes AI-generated tracks are recognised, credited and paid.

Backers in the round include Eric Demuth, co-founder and executive chairman of Bitpanda, and Bas Beerens, founder of WeTransfer, along with other European entrepreneurs. The core team consists of Zonneveld, his longtime business partner Cas Luuring, and Thijs Emondts, a former venture capital partner and Uber general manager.

An attribution record for every track

GasLab only generates music from catalogues supplied by artists and labels that have opted in. Its proprietary attribution model, called the Digital Notary, compares each output with that catalogue and logs which recordings and rights holders contributed, at both the master and publishing level. Users can see immediately which songs and artists influenced what they created.

Each track gets a permanent ID and a watermark tied to its record, and every attributed artist receives an economic right in it. If an AI-generated song takes off, the original contributors are meant to benefit. When GasLab earns money from subscriptions or releases, those records determine how revenue is split.

Zonneveld framed the venture as a response to a structural problem: "The current state of generative AI has a major flaw: It takes from artists but gives nothing back."

A DJ who plays against his own model

Zonneveld studied classical piano from age three before teaching himself electronic production, and founded the Filth on Acid label in 2017. He and Luuring started experimenting with machine learning eight years ago, work that produced R2, a model trained on his own catalogue that he plays back-to-back with at festivals.

Most generative music tools do not reveal what influenced a track or share value with the artists behind it, and that gap has become a central issue in the music industry's dealings with AI. The company says the funding will support its next growth phase and that its attribution engine could also be offered to other generative AI platforms. GasLab is currently gathering a waitlist for private testing ahead of a later public launch.