ElevenLabs, a London-based AI text-to-speech company, has been valued at more than $1bn after an $80m (£63m) Series B round.
The company, which launched its first beta product in January 2023, has raised a total of $101m in support of its AI voice generation technology.
ElevenLabs offers free AI-generated voices based on user prompts and promises natural, human-like speech in dozens of languages and accents.
In 2023, the company secured partnerships with media and tech brands such as the Washington Post, Storytel and Paradox Interactive.
The tool is primarily designed for content creation for both entertainment and education. However, with the new funding round secured, the company has also announced a handful of new product developments to be released in the coming weeks.
These include a dubbing studio that can translate the audio of films and generate transcripts, translations and timecodes and a voice library in which users can create a cloned version of their own voice to be licensed to others.
“Our team’s dedication has already made a lasting impact on voice AI. This new funding enables us to take on even bigger challenges and focus on maintaining our competitive edge in research and product development,” said Piotr Dąbkowski, CTO of ElevenLabs.
Company co-founder Mati Staniszewski added: “Our ambition remains the same – to transform how we interact with content by breaking down language and communication barriers.”
The latest round was co-led by existing backers Andreessen Horowitz, former GitHub boss Nat Friedman and investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.
Other participants in the round included Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, BroadLight Capital and Credo Ventures.
ElevenLabs in June 2023 closed a £15m Series A round.