ElevenLabs' valuation doubles to $22 billion on surging AI voice-agent demand

Sept 30 (Reuters) - ElevenLabs said ‌on Wednesday ​it ​had completed a $300 million employee tender offer valuing the AI voice generation startup at $22 billion, twice the valuation ‌it secured in its February funding round.

The tender was ⁠led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, with participation from existing backers such ‌as Andreessen Horowitz and ‌Lightspeed, and new investors including EQT and Goldman Sachs.

Unlike a conventional fundraising round, a tender offer allows employees and existing ​shareholders to sell their stocks to investors, providing liquidity without necessarily raising new capital.

Some of the biggest AI investments have ⁠gone to developers of AI agents, as businesses increasingly adopt the technology to automate ​customer service and routine back-office tasks.

The growing adoption has also drawn major technology companies into the market, with ​Meta Platforms expanding its personal AI ‌agent Muse to small businesses.

Founded in 2022 by Piotr Dabkowski and CEO Mati Staniszewski, London-based ElevenLabs ⁠develops AI voice tools, including technology that converts text into speech.

ElevenLabs said its agents now handle more than 15 million conversations each week, ⁠three times the level in February, performing tasks such as processing refunds, renewing ​insurance policies and booking appointments.

"We're already seeing rapid adoption of expressive voice agents by enterprises and governments, who are deploying them in service of consumers ‌and citizens," co-founder and CEO Mati Staniszewski said.

Its models can speak, listen and translate in more ‌than 90 languages used by over 5.5 billion people, according to ⁠the company.

The company was ‌valued at $11 billion after ​raising $500 million in a Series D funding round in February.

(Reporting by Pragyan Kalita in Bengaluru; Editing by ‌Vijay Kishore)

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