ElevenLabs is raising again

Just a few months ago, ElevenLabs was valued at $6.6bn. Now the London-founded AI company is talking to investors again, this time at a price that could reach $11bn according to FT. If that happens, it would become the most valuable AI start-up in the UK.

ElevenLabs was founded in 2022 by Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski, two Polish entrepreneurs. Their idea was simple in theory and hard in practice: make computer-generated voices sound human.

Today, ElevenLabs’ software is used for customer service lines, text-to-speech tools, audiobooks and dubbing content into multiple languages. Many users barely notice it’s AI.

The company says it made $330m in annual recurring revenue last year. Just months earlier, that number was closer to $200m. For a company this young, that kind of growth is rare.

Although ElevenLabs started in London, it doesn’t behave like a local start-up. It runs major operations in London and New York, with offices in Warsaw, Bengaluru and Tokyo. It is also incorporated in the US.

Big venture firms like Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz and Iconiq have backed the company. Others, including NEA and Smash Capital, joined later.

The pace of funding has been intense. In January 2025, ElevenLabs raised $180m at a $3.3bn valuation. By September, employees sold shares in a deal that valued the company at $6.6bn. Now, barely four months later, the number being discussed is $11bn.

Voice AI has one big advantage. It’s useful right now.

Companies can plug it into call centres. Media firms can dub shows faster and cheaper. Software companies can add voice to products without hiring huge teams. The savings are obvious.

For AI companies, this creates steady income. Usage fees. Enterprise contracts. Long-term customers.

That’s why voice AI has quietly become one of the more dependable corners of the AI market. Less flashy than chatbots, perhaps. But often easier to sell.

Competition in voice AI is increasing. Large technology companies are improving their own models. Regulation around synthetic voices, consent and misuse is coming, particularly in Europe.