Artificial intelligence voice cloning startup ElevenLabs has recently garnered significant attention in the AI tech industry with its remarkable achievement of securing $80 million in a Series B funding round.
This strategic move has elevated the company’s valuation to a staggering $1.1 billion, officially classifying ElevenLabs as a unicorn, a term reserved for startups exceeding the billion-dollar mark.
Founded in 2022 by Piotr Dabkowski, a former Google machine learning engineer, and Mati Staniszewski, a former Palantir deployment strategist, ElevenLabs specializes in AI-powered tools for creating and modifying synthetic voices.
The company’s recent funding round was co-led by influential investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.
Other notable participants in this funding round include Sequoia Capital, Smash Capital, SV Angel, BroadLight Capital, and Credo Ventures, contributing to a total funding of $101 million.
Mati Staniszewski, CEO and co-founder of ElevenLabs said, “Our ambition remains the same – to transform how we interact with content by breaking down language and communication barriers. We’re building cutting-edge technology to make content accessible across languages – and voices – to enable everyone to connect with information and stories that matter. Our progress so far is a testament to our dedicated team and investors, and while it’s still only the beginning of our journey, together, we’re helping shape the future of accessibility and communication.”
ElevenLabs’ browser-based speech generation app has been a game-changer in the voice AI sector. It is noted for its ability to generate lifelike voices with adjustable intonation, emotion, cadence, and other vocal characteristics.
This technology has applications across various industries, including audiobooks, film and TV dubbing, gaming, and marketing activations. A unique feature of ElevenLabs is its voice cloning technology, which allows users to craft new styles and voices by uploading voice samples.
Despite being a startup, ElevenLabs has already garnered widespread appreciation for its services from people around the world.
Elevenlabs has crazy good quality and it’s really simple to use, amazing tool.
— Gambz (@1Gambz) January 22, 2024
Many believe that the company still has a considerable journey ahead in developing innovative voice-to-text solutions.
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This new funding is set to be allocated towards further product development, expanding infrastructure and teams, artificial intelligence research, and enhancing safety measures. ElevenLabs’ technology is currently utilized by employees at 41% of Fortune 500 companies, indicating its widespread influence in the corporate sector.
In addition to the funding announcement, ElevenLabs has also unveiled several new product developments, including a Dubbing Studio, a Voice Library marketplace, and a Mobile App Reader for instant text-to-audio conversion, along with new models with improved speed and language coverage.
The emergence of ElevenLabs as a unicorn in the AI voice cloning space marks a significant step forward in the AI and SaaS industries. As the company continues to navigate the evolving landscape of synthetic voice technology, it remains committed to driving further innovation and maintaining its position as a leader in the field.
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