ElevenLabs raises $500M at $11 billion valuation as Sequoia leads voice AI expansion

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Voice AI company ElevenLabs secured $500 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital, reaching an $11 billion valuation that more than triples its worth from January 2025. The London-based startup closed 2025 with $330 million in annual recurring revenue and plans to expand beyond voice into video while pursuing international growth and an eventual IPO.

ElevenLabs Secures Massive Funding Round Led by Sequoia Capital

ElevenLabs announced it raises $500 million in a Series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital, propelling the voice AI startup to an $11 billion valuation

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. This marks a dramatic leap from the company's $3.3 billion valuation achieved just one year earlier in January 2025, when it raised $180 million

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. Sequoia Capital, which previously participated in ElevenLabs' secondary round through a tender offer, is now taking a more prominent role with partner Andrew Reed joining the company's board

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Source: TechCrunch

Source: TechCrunch

Strong Investor Confidence Drives Valuation Growth

The funding round demonstrates remarkable investor enthusiasm, with existing backers significantly increasing their commitments. Andreessen Horowitz quadrupled its investment amount, while ICONIQ, which led the previous round, tripled its stake

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. New investors joining the round include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Evantic Capital, and BOND

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. Prior investors such as BroadLight, NFDG, Valor Capital, AMP Coalition, and Smash Capital also participated

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. With this latest injection, ElevenLabs has raised over $781 million to date

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. The company plans to disclose additional investors later in February, some of which may be strategic partners

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Revenue Momentum and Enterprise Adoption Fuel Growth

ElevenLabs closed 2025 with over $330 million in annual recurring revenue, showcasing strong commercial traction

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. CEO Mati Staniszewski revealed in an earlier Bloomberg interview that the company took just five months to grow from $200 million to $300 million in ARR

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. Staniszewski told the Wall Street Journal he hopes to double the annual recurring revenue figure this year

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. The growth has been driven by enterprise adoption from companies including Deutsche Telekom and Revolut, while tech giants like Meta, Salesforce, and Nvidia use its voice infrastructure to develop products and experiences

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Source: ET

Source: ET

Expansion Beyond Voice AI Into Video and AI Agents

Founded in 2022 by Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski, the London-based company initially focused on AI text-to-speech models before expanding into speech-to-text, sound effects, dubbing, music, and conversational models

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. Co-founder Staniszewski indicated that ElevenLabs might work on AI agents beyond voice and incorporate video capabilities

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. In January, the company announced a partnership with LTX to produce audio-to-video content

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. "The intersection of models and products is critical - and our team has proven, time and again, how to translate research into real-world experiences," Staniszewski said, adding that the company plans to expand its Creative offering to help creators combine audio with video and enable businesses to build agents that can talk, type, and take action

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Source: Seeking Alpha

Source: Seeking Alpha

International Market Expansion and IPO Ambitions

ElevenLabs will deploy the funding for research and product development, along with international market expansion in India, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico

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. The company already maintains offices across Europe and has established presence in Brazil, Mexico, India, South Korea, Japan, and the United States

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. Staniszewski confirmed the company is building towards an IPO, signaling long-term ambitions to become a publicly traded entity

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. The funding also comes as ElevenLabs benefits from the viral popularity of the OpenClaw ecosystem, where users integrate the company's voice models to build self-hosted personal AI agents

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Competitive Landscape in AI Voice Generation

Voice AI model providers have become attractive targets for investors and big tech companies amid growing adoption across sectors. In January, rival Deepgram raised $130 million from AVP at a $1.3 billion valuation

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. Meanwhile, Google hired top talent from voice model company Hume AI, including CEO Alan Cowen, demonstrating the strategic importance major players place on voice cloning and conversational AI capabilities

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. ElevenLabs sells products enabling enterprises to deploy voice and chat agents, as well as a platform for brands and creators to generate and localize audio, used by publisher Time and chip giant Nvidia

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