ElevenLabs Raises $180 Million in Series C Funding, Valued at $3.3 Billion

ElevenLabs, a prominent startup in the field of AI audio, announced Thursday that it has secured a Series C round of $180 million, valuing the company at $3.3 billion post-money. The funding is led by a16z and ICONIQ Growth, with TechCrunch initially reporting rumors of the fundraise.

Details of the Funding

The funding will be utilized to further develop ElevenLabs’ audio tools and for business development. According to Mati Staniszewski, the CEO and co-founder of the company, the startup is focusing its research on creating more expressive and controllable audio AI models. Additionally, ElevenLabs is working on "omni-models," which combine text-based models with its audio models for multimodal interactions.

Investor Interest and Controversies

ElevenLabs has been at the center of a frenzy of investor interest, driven by the growing hype around generative AI and its emergence as a major player in synthetic voice technology. The company has been used in various high-profile incidents, including a Russian propaganda operation and the creation of an audio deepfake of Joe Biden. However, ElevenLabs has taken steps to address these concerns, implementing a policy prohibiting "unauthorized, harmful, or deceptive impersonation" and using a mix of machine-led and human moderation to weed out such content.

Safety Mechanisms and Transparency

Staniszewski emphasized the importance of building safety mechanisms into the technology, stating that the company prioritizes safety over speed of deployment or commercial benefit. ElevenLabs follows the C2PA standard to track content using metadata and has developed a public tool that allows anyone to check if audio was generated through the company’s technology using digital signatures placed in the audio during generation. This approach will continue to evolve as approaches for misuse become more sophisticated.

Quote from Mati Staniszewski

"As one of the frontrunners of AI audio work, we do treat it as our responsibility to build the right safety mechanism as we build out the technology. We will frequently make choices to prioritize safety over speed of deployment or commercial benefit," Staniszewski said.