The AI startup ElevenLabs, specializing in audio applications, is in negotiations for a new funding round that could value the company at up to $3 billion. According to a report by TechCrunch, both existing and new investors are extremely interested in the rapidly growing company, which has currently generated about $80 million in Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) – a significant increase from $25 million at the end of the year.
The two-year-old company develops advanced AI tools for generating synthetic voices, which are used for audiobook narrations and real-time video dubbing in various languages. An insider from an interested venture capital firm told TechCrunch that investors are eager to get involved with the expanding company, with a valuation of up to $3 billion seen as realistic. A closing of the funding round is expected in the coming weeks.
Despite strong interest, investors from two other companies are opting out of participation.
The planned funding round would triple ElevenLabs' valuation since the Series B in January, which was co-financed by Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross. In total, the company has already raised 100 million dollars. The exact investment amounts of the new round are not yet known as discussions are ongoing.
In competition with large technology companies like Google and OpenAI, which have also developed their own language models, ElevenLabs stands out by being able to clone the voices of other people — a feature that is unique so far. Other competitors in the synthetic voice market include Murf, Tavus, Resemble AI, Respeecher, and Lovo.
Despite the significant progress and growing market interest, ElevenLabs did not respond to requests for comments.
