ElevenLabs is a leading AI voice technology company specializing in ultra-realistic speech synthesis, voice cloning, and multilingual audio tools. Founded in 2022 by Piotr Dąbkowski (formerly of Google) and Mati Staniszewski (formerly of Palantir), the company is headquartered in New York City with operations in London. It quickly gained attention for its innovation in generative audio and achieved unicorn status in January 2024 with a $1.1 billion valuation. In January 2025, it closed a $180 million Series C funding round, pushing its valuation to $3.3 billion.
The company’s core offering includes high-fidelity voice cloning technology, available in two formats: instant voice cloning (requiring ~60 seconds of audio) and professional voice cloning (requiring ~30 minutes). These tools allow users to replicate voices with impressive emotional depth and clarity across more than 70 languages. ElevenLabs’ clients range from content creators and audiobook publishers to video game developers and accessibility providers.
ElevenLabs is best known for its flagship text-to-speech (TTS) engine, which enables dynamic and expressive speech generation. The latest model, “Eleven v3,” supports emotional inflection, multilingual nuance, and even tagged audio expressions like “[whispers]”. It’s accessible via a browser interface and API, enabling use in real-time applications such as conversational AI. Their Conversational AI platform also allows integration with large language models (LLMs), creating lifelike digital agents with low latency.
The company has also developed a suite of tools including a Voice Changer, Voice Isolator (for noise removal), AI Dubbing (preserving the speaker’s tone across languages), and ElevenReader, a mobile app that reads PDFs and articles aloud. In early 2025, ElevenLabs launched Scribe, an AI transcription tool with speaker diarization and timestamping.
Common use cases for ElevenLabs include audiobook narration, podcast production, video localization, customer support automation, and improved accessibility for visually impaired users. For instance, it partnered with Indian e-commerce platform Meesho to manage over 60,000 multilingual voice calls daily using AI-generated voices.
Recognizing the risks of voice misuse—such as deepfake scams impersonating loved ones—ElevenLabs has implemented strict safety features. These include credit card verification for account creation, restrictions on cloning celebrity or political voices, and an AI-generated speech detector. The company is also part of global AI safety initiatives and actively advocates for ethical regulations in generative media.
ElevenLabs offers a free tier of 10,000 monthly credits (equivalent to about 10 minutes of TTS or 15 minutes of AI conversation). Paid tiers provide expanded access, API usage, and professional-grade tools for content creators and businesses.
In summary, ElevenLabs stands at the forefront of generative audio technology, combining state-of-the-art voice realism with flexible APIs and creative tools. While the potential for misuse exists, the company continues to take strong stances on ethical deployment, responsible AI, and global language accessibility.
