ElevenLabs Raises $180M Series C to Expand AI Audio Technology and Research

Company Name: ElevenLabs
Location: Global (Main hubs in London, New York, Warsaw)
Industry: Audio

Funding Details

• Amount: $180M (Series C, bringing total funding to $281M)
• Valuation: $3.3B (tripling in one year)
• Investors:
  • Lead: a16z, ICONIQ Growth
  • Participants: NEA, World Innovation Lab (WiL), Valor, Endeavor Catalyst Fund, Lunate
  • Existing Investors: Sequoia Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Smash Capital, SV Angel, NFDG, BroadLight Capital
  • Strategic Partners: Deutsche Telekom, LG Technology Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, RingCentral Ventures

Purpose of Investment

• Advance AI audio research and develop more expressive and controllable voice AI.
• Expand tools for developers and businesses scaling globally.
• Strengthen AI safety measures.

Leadership

• CEO: Mati Staniszewski
• CTO: Piotr Dąbkowski

Product & Technology

ElevenLabs provides an AI-powered audio generation platform, making speech a central component of digital interactions.

“Speech is how we naturally communicate. This funding moves us closer to a world where digital interactions happen by voice—fluid, natural, and as effortless as a conversation.” - Mati Staniszewski, CEO, ElevenLabs

Key Features & Innovations

• Conversational AI: Enables real-time, natural speech for AI agents.
• Voice Design: Creates custom voices from text descriptions.
• Sound Effects Model: Generates sound effects from text descriptions.
• ElevenReader App: Converts ebooks, PDFs, and news articles into audio.
• Flash Model: Offers the fastest voice generation with 75ms latency.
• Voice Library Payouts: Platform for voice actors to monetize AI-generated voices, with over $2M in payouts.
• Dubbing Studio: AI-powered localization tool that translates and preserves original voices.

Market Adoption & Impact

• Over 1,000 years of AI-generated audio created by users.
• Adopted by employees at 60% of Fortune 500 companies.
• More than 250,000 conversational AI agents built in two months.
• 1M+ hours of audio localized and read aloud.
• 10M+ AI-generated sound effects produced.

Key Partnerships & Clients

• Technology: NVIDIA, Perplexity, Synthesia, HeyGen, Kapwing, rabbit, Cognigy
• Media & Entertainment: ESPN, Aston Martin Aramco F1, Publicis, Lex Fridman, Andrew Huberman
• Education & Publishing: Chess.com, TIME, The New Yorker, The Washington Post
• Gaming: Paradox Interactive, Magicave, Don’t Nod

Global Expansion & Future Plans

• Opening a Warsaw R&D hub for Central & Eastern European AI talent.
• Expanding Indic language coverage and AI programs in India.
• Strengthening presence in Asia, LATAM, and EMEA.
• Scaling AI research to enhance voice AI's realism, control, and multilingual capabilities.
• Expanding mobile applications for broader accessibility.

About ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs is a leading AI research company specializing in voice and audio generation technology. Founded in 2022, the company is on a mission to build the most comprehensive AI audio platform, making voice a seamless and natural interface for digital interactions. ElevenLabs' advanced AI models enable lifelike speech synthesis, real-time conversational AI, multilingual dubbing, and AI-powered sound design, helping businesses, creators, and developers integrate high-quality, expressive audio into their products and services.