Startups > ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs helps enterprises generate, localize, and deploy AI voice at scale.

Series D $811M total Founded 2022 New York, New York 710 employees

ElevenLabs is an AI voice platform that synthesizes realistic speech from text, clones voices, dubs content across 20+ languages, and powers conversational AI agents. Used by 41% of Fortune 500 companies including Disney, Washington Post, and Epic Games, it enables enterprises to scale audio content creation while preserving speaker emotion and intent. The company builds proprietary AI models for TTS, ASR, dubbing, and music generation, positioning itself as a full-stack voice AI provider rather than a specialized point solution.

Problem solved

Organizations manually re-record or pay prohibitive costs for dubbing, localization, and voice talent—ElevenLabs automates this while preserving speaker identity and emotion across languages.

Target customer

Enterprise media, gaming, publishing, and tech companies; developers building voice applications; content creators producing audiobooks and podcasts; organizations requiring multilingual dubbing and localization.

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Founders

Mati Staniszewski

Co-Founder & CEO

Former Palantir technology deployment specialist and BlackRock Portfolio Analytics engineer; studied Mathematics at Imperial College London; joined Klarna board in 2025.

Piotr Dąbkowski

Co-Founder

Ex-Google machine learning engineer inspired by inadequately dubbed films to build superior voice synthesis technology.

Funding history

Pre-Seed $2M January 2023 Led by Credo Ventures · Concept Ventures

Series A $19M June 2023 Led by Andreessen Horowitz · SV Angel, Mike Krieger, Brendan Iribe, Mustafa Suleyman, Tim O'Reilly

Series B $80M January 2024 Led by Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Sequoia Capital

Series C $180M January 2025 Led by a16z, ICONIQ Growth · NEA, World Innovation Lab, Valor, Endeavor Catalyst Fund, Deutsche Telekom, LG Technology Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, RingCentral Ventures

Series D $500M February 2026 Led by Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross · SV Angel, Mike Krieger, Brendan Iribe, Mustafa Suleyman, Tim O'Reilly

Total raised: $811M

Industries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Content Creators Developer APIs Foundational AI Generative AI

Pricing

Tiered SaaS model based on character/minute usage. Free plan: 10,000 characters/month. Creator: $22/month ($11 first month). Business: $1,320/month. Enterprise: custom. API pricing from $0.06 per 1,000 characters for Flash/Turbo models.

Notable customers

Washington Post, TIME, Paradox Interactive, HarperCollins, Disney, Epic Games, Nvidia, Meta, Salesforce, Deutsche Telekom, Square, Revolut, Ukrainian Government, KPN, Cisco, Deliveroo, Chess.com, Bertelsmann, Telus Digital

Tech stack

React (JavaScript frameworks) Next.js (Web servers) MobX (JavaScript libraries) core-js (JavaScript libraries) Headless UI (UI frameworks) Webpack Module Federation HTTP/3 Google Analytics (Analytics) Facebook Pixel (Analytics) reCAPTCHA (Security) Google Font API (Font scripts) Nginx (Reverse proxies) Node.js (Programming languages) Google Workspace (Email) Google Cloud CDN (CDN) Google Tag Manager (Tag managers) Google Cloud (IaaS) Cookiebot (Cookie compliance) Clickbank (Affiliate programs) Rewardful (Affiliate programs)

Website

elevenlabs.io/

Competitors

Hume AI

Full-stack voice provider with ASR and TTS, but less specialized in dubbing and voice cloning at scale.

Retell AI

Focuses on conversational voice agents and ASR; less comprehensive in music generation and dubbing capabilities.

Google Cloud Text-to-Speech

Enterprise alternative with broader cloud integration but lacks custom voice cloning and AI-driven dubbing preservation features.

Azure Speech Services

Microsoft's offering integrated with Azure ecosystem; less specialized in creative dubbing and music generation.

Why this matters: ElevenLabs has achieved a unicorn valuation ($11B Series D, Feb 2026) and captured 41% of Fortune 500 adoption in just 4 years, signaling rapid enterprise acceptance of AI voice technology. The company's focus on preserving emotional nuance and speaker identity in dubbing solves a genuine creative pain point that generic TTS providers miss, making it defensible in a crowded AI market.

Best for: Enterprise media companies, game studios, and publishers needing to localize voice content globally without re-recording talent; developers building voice agents; content creators scaling audiobook production.

Use cases

Film & TV Dubbing at Scale

Studios like Disney use ElevenLabs to dub films into 20+ languages while preserving the original actor's voice, emotion, and intonation. This reduces dubbing timelines from months to weeks and maintains consistent character voices across all localizations, enabling faster global releases.

Interactive Gaming Narration

Game studios like Paradox Interactive and Epic Games use AI voice to generate dynamic dialogue and NPC narration. ElevenLabs cut their audio production time from weeks to hours, allowing rapid iteration on game content and support for multiple languages without recording sessions.

Audiobook & Podcast Production

Publishing houses like HarperCollins and creators use the Projects tool to convert long-form text into expressive audiobooks with consistent voices. The contextual-awareness engine adjusts tone and pacing based on emotional content, reducing post-production editing and talent costs.

Voice Agent Deployment

Enterprises like Revolut and Square use ElevenLabs' Conversational AI platform to deploy customer service voice agents that sound natural and human. The platform handles multiple languages and emotional nuance, improving customer satisfaction while reducing call center overhead.

Content Localization

The Dalí Museum used voice cloning to resurrect Salvador Dalí's voice for interactive exhibits decades after his death. This demonstrates how ElevenLabs enables cultural institutions and brands to create authentic, personalized experiences across multiple languages without talent availability constraints.

Alternatives

Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Broader cloud ecosystem integration and lower cost at scale, but lacks advanced voice cloning and AI dubbing preservation features.

Azure Speech Services Native Microsoft ecosystem integration and enterprise support, but less specialized in creative dubbing and music generation.

Hume AI Emphasizes emotional expressiveness and end-to-end voice solutions, but less focused on dubbing and large-scale localization.

Natural Reader Simpler, cheaper alternative for basic TTS without AI voice cloning or advanced dubbing capabilities.

FAQ

What does ElevenLabs do? +

ElevenLabs is an AI voice platform that synthesizes realistic speech from text, clones voices, dubs content across 20+ languages, generates music from text prompts, and powers conversational voice agents. It uses proprietary AI models trained to preserve speaker emotion, intonation, and intent across multiple languages.

How much does ElevenLabs cost? +

Pricing ranges from free (10,000 characters/month) to $22/month for Creators, $1,320/month for Business, and custom enterprise pricing. API pricing starts at $0.06 per 1,000 characters for Flash/Turbo TTS models. All plans billed on usage (characters, minutes, or generations).

What are alternatives to ElevenLabs? +

Google Cloud Text-to-Speech (broader cloud integration, lower cost at scale), Azure Speech Services (Microsoft ecosystem integration), Hume AI (emotional expressiveness focus), and Natural Reader (simpler, cheaper for basic TTS without voice cloning).

Who uses ElevenLabs? +

41% of Fortune 500 companies use ElevenLabs, including Disney, Washington Post, TIME, Epic Games, Paradox Interactive, HarperCollins, Nvidia, Meta, Salesforce, Deutsche Telekom, and Revolut. Customers span media, gaming, publishing, tech, telecom, and government sectors.

How does ElevenLabs compare to Google Cloud Text-to-Speech? +

ElevenLabs specializes in voice cloning, AI-driven dubbing with emotion preservation, and music generation—capabilities beyond Google's offering. Google excels in broader cloud ecosystem integration and competitive pricing at massive scale, but lacks ElevenLabs' creative AI features. ElevenLabs is better for film dubbing, gaming narration, and voice agent deployment.