AI voice start-up ElevenLabs doubles valuation to $22bn

London-based AI voice start-up ElevenLabs has doubled its valuation to $22bn via US$194.1M secondary share sale led by Wellington and T Rowe Price, placing it among the top 10 most valuable AI labs outside China per FT analysis of Dealroom figures. The tender lets existing investors and employees sell stock; new long-term institutional buyers include Goldman Sachs and Singapore’s GIC. It doubles the February primary round ($500mn from Sequoia, a16z, Iconiq; FT Ventures also an investor) and puts ElevenLabs near France’s Mistral (€21bn / ~$24bn after this month’s €3bn raise). CEO Mati Staniszewski: secondaries help talent competition with the biggest AI labs and bring institutional holders; management sold a “small amount”; IPO-ready in “two or two and a half years” but IPO timing depends on many factors; has received “so many acquisition offers.” Founded 2022 by Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski at US$5.82M valuation; Nvidia became a strategic investor in 2025. Customers include Deutsche Telekom, KPN, Ukraine and Greece governments, and fintechs Stripe, Revolut and Klarna. Fourth-generation model just released — “step change” especially for longer conversations. Unlike many AI software groups, ElevenLabs trains its own models on its own compute (then serves via hyperscalers) rather than wrapping OpenAI/Google/Anthropic. Headcount more than doubled in a year to 800 across 20 countries (~200 in London); Delaware-incorporated despite London HQ — the familiar European path to US capital. Staniszewski stresses local presence for voice nuance.