FundraiseJul 3, 2026, 10:18 UTC

ElevenLabs eyes $22B valuation in staff share sale, doubling its February mark

What's the deal? ElevenLabs is in early talks with investors about a secondary share sale that would value the AI voice startup at roughly $22 billion, Bloomberg reported. The deal, expected by September 2026, would let employees and early backers sell shares — not raise new capital.

Why now? The proposed price doubles the $11 billion valuation ElevenLabs set in February 2026, when it closed a $500 million Series D led by Sequoia Capital, with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, NVIDIA, and ICONIQ. That itself followed a $6.6 billion employee tender in September 2025.

The numbers: ElevenLabs reported roughly $500 million in annual recurring revenue by early 2026, with clients including Deutsche Telekom, Boston Consulting Group, and Revolut. Total funding now exceeds $780 million.

Founded in 2022 by Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski, the company builds AI tools that generate lifelike voices in dozens of languages. It competes with OpenAI and Google, both of which have launched voice replication products.

What's the endgame? A tender offer lets private companies set a fresh valuation and give staff liquidity without the disclosures of a public listing. Staniszewski has said the company aims to be ready for an IPO within two to three years.

What could go wrong? The reporting is preliminary and single-sourced, and terms could shift. It does not name the buy-side investors or how much stock employees can sell.

The signal: If the deal lands as described, it shows investors are willing to reprice voice AI's category leader at a sprint — tripling ElevenLabs' valuation in under a year — and sets the ceiling rivals must negotiate against.