ElevenLabs Inc. is a software company that specializes in developing natural-sounding speech synthesis software using Deep learning. Founded in 2022 by Polish entrepreneurs Piotr DÄ…bkowski and Mateusz Staniszewski, the company is legally incorporated in the United States and based in London, with additional offices in New York City, Warsaw, and San Francisco. ElevenLabs focuses on Generative AI for voice, producing tools for text-to-speech, voice cloning, and multilingual dubbing that aim to replicate human emotion and intonation. The company has grown rapidly, securing significant venture funding and reaching a valuation of $11 billion by early 2026, as it positions itself at the forefront of the emerging voice AI field.
ElevenLabs' technology leverages advanced Neural network architectures and Large language model techniques to generate speech that interprets textual context, adjusting pacing and intonation to convey emotions such as anger, sadness, happiness, or alarm. The company's models are trained on vast datasets to understand sentiment, enabling a more human-like inflection. This approach differs from traditional text-to-speech systems by focusing on emotional nuance and contextual awareness, making it applicable across media, entertainment, accessibility, and interactive agents. The startup's products are accessible via a web-based platform and APIs, allowing developers and creators to integrate voice AI into their workflows.
Name etymology
The name ElevenLabs derives from the English word "eleven," which refers to 11 November, Poland's National Independence Day (the eleventh day of the eleventh month). This choice reflects the Polish heritage of the founders, who grew up in Poland. The element "Labs" is short for "laboratories," indicating the company's research and development profile. The name thus combines a national symbol with a nod to scientific innovation, signaling the founders' desire to create a research-driven enterprise with European roots.
History
ElevenLabs was co-founded in 2022 by Piotr DÄ…bkowski, a former Google DeepMind machine learning engineer, and Mateusz Staniszewski, a former deployment strategist at Palantir. Both entrepreneurs were raised in Poland, and the inspiration for founding ElevenLabs reportedly came from watching inadequately dubbed American films, which sparked their interest in improving synthetic voice quality. Initially, they explored various funding avenues, including working with a startup accelerator.
In January 2023, the company revealed a $2 million pre-seed round led by Credo Ventures and joined by Concept Venturesjacket, with the startup's specialization in AI voice intelligence - an emerging field in Europe - attracting investor interest. That same month, ElevenLabs publicly released its beta platform, allowing users to generate lifelike voice from text.
In June 2023, ElevenLabs raised a $19 million Series A round at a valuation of about $100 million. The round was co-led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and entrepreneur Daniel Gross. Additional participants included SV Angel, Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe, DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, and O'Reilly Media founder Tim O'Reilly. Andreessen Horowitz also joined ElevenLabs' board as part of the investment.
On January 22, 2024, ElevenLabs announced an $80 million Series B funding round, raising its total valuation to $1.1 billion. Led by Andreessen Horowitz, along with Friedman, Gross, and Sequoia Capital, the round supported the introduction of several new products, including the Voice Marketplace, AI Dubbing Studio, and a mobile app. This growth coincided with the broader expansion of AI21 Labs and other generative AI startups, but ElevenLabs' focus on voice distinguished it.
In the lead-up to the January 2024 New Hampshire Democratic primary, AI-generated robocalls purportedly from Joe Biden urged voters to skip voting, and thousands of residents received them. The New Hampshire attorney general's office launched an investigation, linking the calls to a Texas-based company, with audio experts concluding the call was made using ElevenLabs. In response, CEO Mati Staniszewski stated that the company was "dedicated to preventing the misuse of audio AI tools," but provided no comment on specific incidents.
On January 30, 2025, ElevenLabs announced a $180 million Series C round, bringing its valuation to $3.3 billion. Co-led by a16z and ICONIQ Growth, with new investors NEA, World Innovation Lab (WiL), Valor, Endeavor Catalyst Fund, and Lunate, the round also included strategic investors such as Deutsche Telekom, LG Technology Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, and RingCentral Ventures.
In September 2025, ElevenLabs opened an employee tender offer, allowing staff with at least a year of tenure to sell shares at a $6.6 billion valuation, reflecting continued internal growth. On 4 February 2026, the company raised $500 million at an $11 billion valuation, as it eyes a potential initial public offering (IPO). In March 2026, ElevenLabs pledged to commit $1 billion in free restoration voice technology to 1 million people living with permanent voice loss, demonstrating a focus on accessibility.
Products
ElevenLabs is primarily known for its browser-based, AI-assisted text-to-speech software, Speech Synthesis, which can produce lifelike speech by synthesizing vocal emotion and intonation. The company also offers Conversational AI, a developer platform for launching interactive voice agents that can engage in real-time dialogue. According to the company, its models are trained to interpret context in the text, adjusting intonation and pacing accordingly, using advanced algorithms to detect emotions like anger, sadness, happiness, or alarm. This capability enables a more realistic and human-like inflection, and the company is in the process of patenting the technology. On its beta site, users can submit text and generate audio files from a selection of default voices, while paying users can upload custom voice samples to create new vocal styles using the company's voice cloning tool.
Voice Library
Voice Library is a feature for sharing unique voice profiles created using ElevenLabs' Voice Design technology. These pre-designed voice profiles allow users to select a voice that suits their needs without creating one from scratch. The library contains more than 1,000 community-created voices. Another tool, VoiceLab, enables users to clone voices from just a few short snippets of audio and can create entirely new synthetic voices, expanding customization options.
AI Speech Classifier
On 20 June 2023, ElevenLabs released an AI recognition tool called the AI Speech Classifier, which it claims is the first of its kind. The tool is accessible through an API and designed to determine if an uploaded audio sample originates from ElevenLabs' proprietary AI technology. The company has expressed an intention to collaborate with other AI developers to create a universal detection system that could be adopted industry-wide, addressing concerns about misuse of synthetic voice.
Projects
In July 2023, ElevenLabs announced "Projects," a tool for creating long-form spoken content such as audiobooks and dialogue segments with contextually-aware synthetic or custom voices. The tool was released in September, and in August the company expanded its voice generation capabilities to 28 languages. Using an in-house AI model, it automatically detects languages like Korean, Dutch, and Vietnamese, allowing for "emotionally rich" multilingual speech generation. Additionally, the company announced that its technology had officially exited its beta phase, marking a milestone in maturity.
AI Dubbing and voice products
In October 2023, ElevenLabs presented "AI Dubbing," a tool that can translate speech into more than 20 languages. The feature preserves the speaker's original voice, emotions, and intonation by employing proprietary methods to handle tasks like noise removal, speaker differentiation, transcription, and synchronization of translated speech with the original audio. In May 2024, ElevenLabs shared samples from its text-to-music model, which became available for public use in July 2025, expanding beyond speech into music generation. This diversification aligns with the broader trends in Generative AI where companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are pushing boundaries, but ElevenLabs remains focused on voice-centric applications.
Technology and AI approach
ElevenLabs' voice synthesis relies on deep learning models, including Transformer (architecture) architectures and Multi-Head Attention mechanisms, which allow the system to weight different parts of the input text differently, capturing context and emotional cues. The use of Positional Encoding helps the model understand the sequence of words, while techniques similar to Top-K Sampling and Temperature Scaling can influence the variability of generated speech. The company's training processes likely involve Data Augmentation and Loss Functions optimized for naturalness, though specific details remain proprietary. The emphasis on emotion distinguishes ElevenLabs from earlier text-to-speech systems, which often sounded robotic and lacked intonation.
The company's work fits within the broader field of Artificial intelligence and Machine learning, contributing to advancements in human-computer interaction. As of 2026, ElevenLabs positions itself as a leader in voice AI, with applications ranging from audiobook narration to accessibility for individuals with speech impairments. Its pledge to provide free restoration voice technology to 1 million people underscores the potential social impact of such technology.
Funding and valuation timeline
ElevenLabs' funding history reflects rapid growth in the AI sector. After a $2 million pre-seed in January 2023, the company secured $19 million in Series A at a $100 million valuation in June 2023. The $80 million Series B in January 2024 tripled the valuation to $1.1 billion. The $180 million Series C in January 2025 increased it to $3.3 billionching. By September 2025, an employee tender offer valued the company at $6.6 billion, and the $500 million raise in February 2026 brought it to $11 billion, indicating expectations for continued expansion and potential IPO. This trajectory mirrors the broader boom in Generative AI startups, driven by advances in Large language model and Deep learning technologies.
Reception and impact
ElevenLabs has attracted significant attention for its realistic voice synthesis, but also faced scrutiny regarding misuse. The New Hampshire robocall incident highlighted risks associated with AI voice cloning, prompting discussions about regulation and detection. The company has responded by developing tools like the AI Speech Classifier and committing to ethical practices, as seen in its voice loss restoration pledge. Critics and supporters alike acknowledge the transformative potential of ElevenLabs' technology, from dubbing in Amazon Web Services cloud environments to integration with platforms like TomTom for navigation, though specific partnerships are not always disclosed.