ElevenLabs, a UK company specializing in ultra-realistic AI-generated human voices and music, has secured $500 million in a funding round that values the business at $11 billion, more than triple its worth from last year. The investment round was led by Sequoia Capital, with support from Andreessen Horowitz and Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. Since its founding in 2022, ElevenLabs has raised a total of $781 million, cementing its place among the UK’s most valuable private technology companies.
The company’s software transforms text into human-like speech, generates music in any genre, and designs custom sound effects. Clients include global businesses such as Deliveroo, Deutsche Telekom, Square, Revolut, and the Ukrainian government, who use ElevenLabs’ technology to create multilingual, human-sounding agents and other AI-driven applications. Despite its rapid growth, ElevenLabs has faced controversy, including legal disputes over voice replication and concerns about the ethical use of its technology. Last year, it settled a lawsuit with actors alleging unauthorized use of their voices.
ElevenLabs’ co-founders, Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski, both 31, were inspired to create the company after watching poorly dubbed movies. In 2025, the company launched its “iconic voice marketplace,” allowing celebrities such as Michael Caine and Liza Minnelli to license their voices for approved projects. The platform ensures rights holders retain control over how their voices are used, reflecting the company’s efforts to address intellectual property concerns in AI. Additionally, its AI music generator can produce studio-quality tracks in minutes, and the software has enabled users with speech impairments, including politician Jennifer Wexton, to communicate in their own synthetic voices. McConaughey has used the platform to deliver his newsletter in Spanish while maintaining his voice.
Dabkowski emphasized the company’s mission to advance foundational AI models across text-to-speech, transcription, music, dubbing, and conversational systems. ElevenLabs plans to use the new funding to expand research and product development, accelerate international growth, and explore AI applications beyond voice. The $11 billion valuation underscores that private AI companies continue to attract high investor confidence, even amid ongoing concerns about a potential tech bubble in the industry.
