ElevenLabs, a startup that offers a platform that uses artificial intelligence to generate synthetic voices, reportedly plans to add more hubs around the world and then launch an initial public offering.
The company has its largest office in London, where it is based; has hubs in New York, Warsaw, San Francisco, Japan, India and Bangalore; and is considering adding more in Paris, Singapore, Brazil and Mexico, CNBC reported Thursday (July 3), citing its interview with ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski.
“We expect to build more hubs in Europe, Asia and South America, and just keep scaling,” Staniszewski said in the report.
ElevenLabs also plans to launch an IPO within the next five years, “if the market is right,” he said, according to the report.
The company was valued at $3.3 billion in a Series C funding round in January, a figure that was three times the size of the $1.1 billion valuation seen in another round a year earlier.
ElevenLabs raised $180 billion in the most recent round, saying it would use the new funding to continue the development of its AI audio technology that is used in content creation, customer support, gaming, education, accessibility and other applications.
The company launched its platform in 2023 and has since refined its voice AI models and added tools that enable real-time, natural speech for AI agents, speech generation, voice design, sound effects and dubbing in 32 languages.
“This funding moves us closer to a world where digital interactions happen by voice — fluid, natural and as effortless as a conversation,” Staniszewski wrote in a January blog post.
Voice AI startups raised $2.1 billion in 2024, up eightfold from 2023, PYMNTS reported in June, citing data from research firm CB Insights.
CB Insights said the growth was driven by advances in voice AI models — such as OpenAI’s Realtime API for speech-to-speech applications — that gave a big boost to applications in various used cases.
Staniszewski told the Financial Times in April that ElevenLabs was looking to attract American investors.
“Recognizing the most venture funding comes from the U.S., we set up as a Delaware corporation — the preferred and familiar structure for U.S. investors,” he said.
In Thursday’s CNBC report, Staniszewski said the firm has not yet decided where it will list its IPO, adding that it will probably do so in the country where most of its users are located at the time.
Source: https://www.pymnts.com/
