ElevenLabs
Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski launched ElevenLabs in 2022 after leaving their previous roles at Google and Palantir. Both founders grew up in Poland, where they watched American films with poor dubbing quality. This experience sparked the idea for a company that could generate natural-sounding speech using deep learning technology. In January 2023, the startup secured $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Credo Ventures and Concept Ventures. The team released its beta platform to the public just weeks later that same month.
ElevenLabs raised $19 million during its Series A round in June 2023, reaching a valuation of approximately $100 million. Andreessen Horowitz co-led this investment alongside former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and entrepreneur Daniel Gross. Prominent investors including SV Angel, Mike Krieger, and Tim O'Reilly joined the round. By the 22nd of January 2024, the company had secured an additional $80 million in Series B funding, pushing its total valuation to $1.1 billion. On the 30th of January 2025, ElevenLabs announced an $180 million Series C round, bringing its valuation to $3.3 billion. Strategic partners like Deutsche Telekom and LG Technology Ventures participated in this latest funding cycle.
The company's flagship product is browser-based text-to-speech software capable of synthesizing vocal emotion and intonation. Users can submit text to generate audio files from default voices or upload custom samples for voice cloning. In July 2023, ElevenLabs introduced Projects, a tool designed for creating long-form content such as audiobooks. The platform expanded support to 28 languages that same month using an in-house AI model. October 2023 brought AI Dubbing, which translates speech into over 20 languages while preserving original emotions. June 2025 saw the release of Eleven v3, supporting more than 70 languages with natural multi-speaker dialogue capabilities.
ElevenLabs gained rapid momentum after launching in January 2023, reaching one million registered users by June of that year. The company received praise for its ability to accurately pronounce unique names often mishandled by competing tools. A generous free tier helped attract early adopters during the beta phase. In April 2025, Forbes included ElevenLabs on its AI 50 list recognizing industry leaders. The Voice Marketplace now hosts over 1,000 community-created voice profiles available for public use. The Reader App released in June 2024 allows iOS and Android users to listen to articles and PDFs using AI voices.
Users exploited the software to generate controversial statements mimicking celebrities and public officials following its launch. Hateful messages appeared on 4chan using ElevenLabs' replication capabilities, drawing significant criticism. In January 2024, AI-generated robocalls attributed to Joe Biden targeted New Hampshire voters before a democratic primary. Audio experts concluded the calls were made using ElevenLabs technology, prompting an investigation by state authorities. Multiple voice actors have raised concerns about their samples being used without consent for training data purposes. CEO Mati Staniszewski stated the company was dedicated to preventing misuse but offered no specific comments on individual incidents.
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Common questions
Who founded ElevenLabs and when was the company established?
Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski launched ElevenLabs in 2022 after leaving their previous roles at Google and Palantir. Both founders grew up in Poland, where they watched American films with poor dubbing quality.
What is the current valuation of ElevenLabs as of January 30th 2025?
ElevenLabs announced an $180 million Series C round on the 30th of January 2025, bringing its valuation to $3.3 billion. Strategic partners like Deutsche Telekom and LG Technology Ventures participated in this latest funding cycle.
How many languages does Eleven v3 support for text-to-speech synthesis?
June 2025 saw the release of Eleven v3, supporting more than 70 languages with natural multi-speaker dialogue capabilities. The platform previously expanded support to 28 languages that same month using an in-house AI model.
When did ElevenLabs reach one million registered users?
The company gained rapid momentum after launching in January 2023, reaching one million registered users by June of that year. A generous free tier helped attract early adopters during the beta phase.
Why was ElevenLabs investigated by state authorities in January 2024?
Audio experts concluded robocalls attributed to Joe Biden targeting New Hampshire voters before a democratic primary were made using ElevenLabs technology. This prompted an investigation by state authorities following the appearance of hateful messages on 4chan using the replication capabilities.