ElevenLabs is a UK-based voice AI company founded in 2022 that develops text-to-speech, voice cloning, and conversational voice-agent products. Its flagship text-to-speech model is Eleven V3, and its voice-agent platform, Conversational AI 2.0, launched on May 30, 2025. The company raised a $500 million Series D at an $11 billion valuation in February 2026 (Source: reuters.com). Its products are applied to audiobooks, game voice, dubbing, accessibility, and agent interfaces, and its voice-cloning technology figures in the policy landscape around synthetic media (see Synthetic Media / Deepfakes).
Snapshot
Valuation
| Date | Valuation | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-02 | ~$22B (reported talks) | Early talks with investors on an employee tender offer, per Bloomberg News | (Source: reuters.com) |
| 2026-02-04 | $11B post-money | $500M Series D led by Sequoia Capital; total funding to $781M | (Source: elevenlabs.io; techcrunch.com) |
| 2025-09 | ~$6.6B | Secondary share-sale deal roughly doubling the January 2025 valuation | (Source: techfundingnews.com) |
| 2025-01 | $3.3B | $180M Series C | (Source: reuters.com) |
Products
ElevenLabs' product line centers on high-quality synthetic speech, with Eleven V3 as its flagship text-to-speech model. Reported use cases include audiobooks, game voice, dubbing, accessibility applications, and agent interfaces. The company's synthetic speech is commonly used as a benchmark for voice-AI quality.
Conversational AI 2.0
Conversational AI 2.0, launched May 30, 2025, is a voice-agent platform built on ElevenLabs' speech synthesis combined with interruption handling, turn-taking, and real-time responsiveness. It targets customer support, phone-based agents, and embedded voice assistants, and positions the company as a voice layer for third-party agent builders.
Funding and valuation
ElevenLabs raised a $180 million Series C at a $3.3 billion valuation in January 2025, and a September 2025 secondary share sale roughly doubled that value (Source: reuters.com; techfundingnews.com). On February 4, 2026, the company announced a $500 million Series D led by Sequoia Capital at an $11 billion valuation — more than tripling the Series C mark — bringing total funding to $781 million (Source: elevenlabs.io; techcrunch.com). CNBC reported that the Nvidia-backed company, led by cofounder and CEO Mati Staniszewski, was eyeing an eventual IPO, and coverage of the round placed it among the most valuable UK AI companies (Source: cnbc.com; techfundingnews.com). In early July 2026, Bloomberg News reported the company was in early talks with investors on a tender offer that would let employees sell shares at a roughly $22 billion valuation (Source: reuters.com).
Voice cloning, law, and ethics
ElevenLabs offers consumer-grade voice cloning, which places it within the policy debate over synthetic media and deepfakes (see Synthetic Media / Deepfakes). The technology has been used in scam calls and political deepfake incidents, including the New Hampshire Biden robocall in 2024. When applied to non-consensual audio, it is subject to scrutiny under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, the federal law addressing non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) and deepfakes.
Consumer Reports conducted an assessment of AI voice-cloning products, including ElevenLabs, that documented consent-verification and abuse-prevention gaps across the industry. State and federal voice-cloning laws frequently treat ElevenLabs, implicitly, as the archetype they are regulating.
Relationships
- deploys-in: Customer support, media, gaming, accessibility.
- related: TAKE IT DOWN Act, Synthetic Media / Deepfakes, planned AI Voice Cloning, State Deepfake Statutes (MN, WA, TX, CA).
Sources
- ElevenLabs / Conversational AI 2.0 launch (2025-05-30)
- Consumer Reports assessment of AI voice cloning products
- ElevenLabs, "ElevenLabs raises $500M Series D at $11B valuation" (2026-02-04) — elevenlabs.io
- Reuters, "ElevenLabs secures $11 billion valuation in latest funding round" (2026-02-04) — reuters.com
- CNBC, "Nvidia-backed AI voice startup ElevenLabs hits $11 billion valuation in fresh fundraise, as it eyes IPO" (2026-02-04) — cnbc.com
- Reuters, "ElevenLabs explores employee stock sale at $22 billion valuation, Bloomberg News reports" (2026-07-02) — reuters.com