AI voice startup ElevenLabs eyes IPO and global expansion after hitting $3.3B valuation

ElevenLabs is thinking big. Just six months after tripling its valuation to $3.3 billion following a $180 million raise, the London-based AI voice startup revealed Thursday that it’s planning an initial public offering (IPO) within five years as it pushes ahead with global expansion.

“We expect to build more hubs in Europe, Asia, and South America, and just keep scaling,” CEO and co-founder Mati Staniszewski said during an interview with CNBC at the company’s London office.

Paris, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico are among the new locations under consideration. London remains the company’s largest hub, followed by New York, Warsaw, San Francisco, Japan, India, and Bangalore.

ElevenLabs to Expand Globally Before Going Public

Staniszewski said the goal is simple: get the company IPO-ready within five years.“From a commercial standpoint, we would like to be ready for an IPO in that time,” he said. “If the market is right, we would like to create a public company … that’s going to be here for the next generation.”

Founded in 2022 by Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, ElevenLabs uses AI to generate synthetic voices and competes with firms like Speechmatics and Hume AI. Its business splits into three main areas: consumer-facing voice tools, enterprise partnerships (including integrations with companies like Cisco), and customized solutions for sectors such as healthcare.

In just three years since its inception, ElevenLabs has already teamed up with major publishers including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, as well as gaming studios like Paradox and Cloud Imperium Games, according to its website.

In 2024, the company expanded its product suite, adding features for speech generation, voice design, sound effects, and AI-powered dubbing across 32 languages. With a team of about 50 remote employees, ElevenLabs plans to double its workforce by the end of the year.

As for where the company might list, that’s still up in the air. Staniszewski said the decision will depend on where most of ElevenLabs’ users are based by the time it’s ready to go public.

“If the U.K. is able to start accelerating,” he said, London could be an option. But it’s a tough sell. The city’s public markets haven’t exactly been kind to high-growth tech startups. Deliveroo’s stock plunged nearly 30% during its debut and was recently acquired by DoorDash for close to $4 billion. Just last month, money transfer firm Wise announced plans to shift its primary listing to the U.S.

Still, ElevenLabs is moving forward. The startup most recently raised $180 million, bringing its valuation to $3.3 billion. Its backers include heavyweights like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ Growth, Salesforce, and Deutsche Telekom.

The team isn’t ruling out more fundraising, but it’ll be strategic.

“The way we try to raise is very much like, if there’s a bet we want to take, to accelerate that bet [we will] take the money,” Staniszewski said.

Eleven Labs Founders