Voice AI innovator ElevenLabs announced today the successful closure of a $500 million funding round, spearheaded by Sequoia Capital. Sequoia, an existing investor that participated in the startup’s previous secondary tender round, has further solidified its commitment. As a result of this investment, Sequoia partner Andrew Reed will be joining ElevenLabs’ board of directors.
This latest capital injection propels ElevenLabs' valuation to an impressive $11 billion, marking a more than threefold increase from its valuation in the last funding round in January 2025. Earlier in the year, the Financial Times had reported the startup’s intention to raise capital at this specific valuation.
ElevenLabs also highlighted significant follow-on investments from its current investor base; notably, a16z quadrupled its investment, while ICONIQ, which led the previous round, tripled its contribution. Additional returning investors included BroadLight, NFDG, Valor Capital, AMP Coalition, and Smash Capital. The round also welcomed new participants such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, EvanticCapital, and BOND.
The company plans to reveal further investors, potentially strategic partners, later in February. With this latest raise, ElevenLabs' total funding to date now exceeds $781 million. The newly acquired capital is earmarked for accelerating research and product development initiatives, as well as driving significant expansion into key international markets including India, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico.
Mati Staniszewski, co-founder of ElevenLabs, hinted at future ventures that extend beyond voice technology, potentially encompassing video and advanced AI agents. This strategic direction aligns with the company's January announcement of a partnership with LTX, focused on generating audio-to-video content.
In a statement, Staniszewski articulated the company's vision: "The intersection of models and products is critical – and our team has proven, time and again, how to translate research into real-world experiences. This funding helps us go beyond voice alone to transform how we interact with technology altogether. We plan to expand our Creative offering – helping creators combine our best-in-class audio with video and Agents – enabling businesses to build agents that can talk, type, and take action."
ElevenLabs has demonstrated robust growth momentum, concluding the year with an impressive Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $330 million. In an earlier interview with Bloomberg, Staniszewski highlighted the company's rapid ascent, noting it took just five months to increase its ARR from $200 million to $300 million.
The burgeoning sector of voice AI model providers continues to attract significant interest from both investors and major technology corporations. Illustrating this trend, rival firm Deepgram successfully secured $130 million from AVP in January, achieving a valuation of $1.3 billion. Concurrently, Google made notable moves by recruiting key talent from voice model innovator Hume AI, including its CEO, Alan Cowen.
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