AI voice cloning startup ElevenLabs Inc. has closed a $250 million Series C funding round, raising its valuation to between $3 billion and $3.3 billion. The round was led by ICONIQ Growth, with continued support from Andreessen Horowitz, a major investor from the company’s previous $80 million Series B round in January 2024.
This significant funding boost positions ElevenLabs to expand its cutting-edge synthetic voice technology, which has already drawn attention for its wide range of applications, from dubbing and audiobooks to personalized voice cloning.
ElevenLabs’ platform allows users to create synthetic speech with over 1,000 pre-designed voices categorized by traits like “confident” or “narrator.” The technology’s standout feature is its ability to clone voices, requiring just one minute of audio for a basic replica or 30 minutes for a professional-grade match.
The platform goes beyond voice duplication, offering multilingual translation across 25+ languages and preserving the speaker’s tone, emotion, and style. This capability is especially valuable for projects like dubbing films in multiple languages, retaining the authenticity of the original voice while adapting to diverse audiences.
Earlier this month, ElevenLabs demonstrated its platform by translating a U.S. blogger’s interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into English and Russian, retaining the speaker's authentic voice and emotional nuances in all three languages.
However, the company has faced criticism over its use of cloned voices. Last week, it came under fire from Aurore Bergé, the daughter of late French actor Alain Dorval, after recreating her father’s voice for the upcoming film "Armor." Bergé accused the company of violating an agreement to limit the cloning to a trial. ElevenLabs has since assured that the project is still in progress and that Dorval’s family will have final say on the voice's use.
ElevenLabs serves high-profile clients, including Synthesia, Washington Post, HarperCollins, and major video game developers, via a flexible API with tiered pricing. Its competitors range from startups like Deepdub Ltd. to industry giants like OpenAI and Google LLC, reflecting the growing demand for advanced synthetic voice solutions.
As ElevenLabs continues to innovate and expand, the $250 million funding will likely accelerate its mission to redefine the possibilities of AI-driven voice technology, despite the ethical and regulatory challenges the field presents.
