AI voice firm Elevenlabs hits $22bn valuation in fresh boost for UK tech

London-based voice AI firm ElevenLabs has achieved a $22bn (£16bn) valuation following a $300m employee share sale, a significant increase from its $11bn Series D round in February, when it raised $500m. The significant boost in valuation, now more than 2,000 times the $9m from its initial funding round four years ago, is led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, among others.

This investment in the UK tech firm will allow employees and existing shareholders to sell stock, rather than raising fresh capital. ElevenLabs, which started as an AI voice generator, has expanded into a platform for businesses to deploy conversational agents, with enterprise customers accounting for 55% of its revenue. The company's annual recurring revenue from its Eleven Agents, a conversational AI platform, has tripled since February, handling over 15 million conversations weekly.

Notable customers include Stripe, Deutsche Telekom, Admiral, and Sevenrooms, with government entities like Ukraine and Greece also adopting the technology. As AI continues to gain prominence, UK policymakers aim to retain more of the country's fastest-growing technology businesses, and ElevenLabs' valuation highlights the rapid growth of Britain's AI unicorn sector, valued at over £40bn.

However, concerns remain about whether the UK can successfully nurture these startups into independent technology leaders, rather than seeing them sold overseas.