“We would like to be ready in the next couple of years. By 2028, I think we should hopefully have the foundation ready,” Staniszewski said.
The comments come after ElevenLabs recently completed a $300 million employee tender offer that valued the company at $22 billion, roughly double its valuation from a funding round earlier this year.
The tender offer was led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, with participation from existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed, as well as new investors such as EQT and Goldman Sachs.
Unlike a traditional funding round, a tender offer allows employees and existing shareholders to sell part of their holdings to investors, providing liquidity without necessarily bringing fresh capital into the company.
Founded in 2022 by Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski, ElevenLabs develops AI-powered voice technology, including tools that convert text into speech.
The company is also expanding into AI agents, as businesses increasingly use voice-based systems to automate customer interactions and other routine tasks. ElevenLabs said its agents now handle more than 15 million conversations a week, three times the level recorded in February.
These agents are being used for applications including 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,” Staniszewski said.
ElevenLabs said its models can speak, listen and translate across more than 90 languages, covering a user base of over 5.5 billion people.
The company was valued at $11 billion after raising $500 million in a Series D funding round in February. Its latest tender offer has since taken the valuation to $22 billion.
The rapid expansion of AI agents has also attracted major technology companies. Meta Platforms, for instance, has been expanding its personal AI agent Muse to small businesses as the technology gains wider adoption.
(With inputs from Reuters)