AI voice startup ElevenLabs pushes global expansion as it gears up for an IPO

LONDON — ElevenLabs, a London-based startup that specializes in generating synthetic voices through artificial intelligence, has revealed plans to be IPO-ready within five years.

The company told CNBC it is targeting major global expansion as it prepares for an initial public offering.

“We expect to build more hubs in Europe, Asia and South America, and just keep scaling,” Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs’ CEO and co-founder, told CNBC in an interview at the firm’s London office.

He identified Paris, Singapore, Brazil and Mexico as potential new locations. London is currently ElevenLabs’ biggest office, followed by New York, Warsaw, San Francisco, Japan, India and Bangalore.

Staniszewski said the eventual aim is to get the company ready for an IPO in the next five years.

“From a commercial standpoint, we would like to be ready for an IPO in that time,” he said. “If the market is right, we would like to create a public company … that’s going to be here for the next generation.”

Undecided on location
Founded in 2022 by Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, ElevenLabs is an AI voice generation startup that competes with the likes of Speechmatics and Hume AI.

The company divides its business into three main camps: consumer-facing voice assistants, integrations with corporates such as Cisco, and tailor-made applications for specific industries like health care.

Staniszewski said the firm hasn’t yet decided where it could list, but that this decision will largely rest on where most of its users are located at the time.

“If the U.K. is able to start accelerating,” ElevenLabs will consider London as a listing destination, Staniszewski said.

The city has faced criticisms from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists that its stock market is unfavorable toward high-growth tech firms.

For example, Deliveroo, whose shares tanked nearly 30% when the company went public, was recently acquired by U.S. food delivery rival DoorDash for close to $4 billion.

Meanwhile, British money transfer firm Wise last month said it plans to move its primary listing location to the U.S.,

Fundraising plans
ElevenLabs was valued at $3.3 billion following a recent $180 million funding round. The company is backed by the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and ICONIQ Growth, as well as corporate names like Salesforce
and Deutsche Telekom
.

Staniszewski said his startup was open to raising more money from VCs, but it would depend on whether it sees a valid business need, like scaling further in other markets. “The way we try to raise is very much like, if there’s a bet we want to take, to accelerate that bet [we will] take the money,” he said.

Here’s a detailed exploration of ElevenLabs’ global growth strategy, ambition for an IPO, and vision for the future of voice AI:


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🚀 From London to the World: Accelerated Global Rollout

Global hubs in the pipeline: ElevenLabs, founded in 2022 by Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, already operates in key locations including London (its largest hub), New York, Warsaw, San Francisco, India, Japan, and Bangalore. Now it's actively scouting new regional headquarters in Paris, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico—marking a major step toward becoming a truly global company .

A strategic scaling approach: The company plans to build out regional teams across these hubs to serve local content creators, gaming studios, publishing houses, and enterprise clients with voice generation, dubbing, speech design, and more .



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📈 Five-Year IPO Window

IPO goals on the horizon: CEO Mati Staniszewski has publicly stated the company's aim to be “IPO-ready within five years” .

Listing location still open: While a London Stock Exchange listing is a possibility, the decision depends on market conditions and where ElevenLabs’ user base is strongest. Staniszewski noted: “if the UK starts accelerating” its support for high-growth tech, London could be chosen—but U.S. exchanges remain a viable option given the climate for tech IPOs .



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💰 Backing, Valuation, and Financial Momentum

Strong financial foundations: In January 2025, ElevenLabs raised $180 million in a Series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Growth, reaching a valuation of about $3.3 billion—tripling its valuation within six months .

Investor confidence: New and existing backers include Sequoia, Salesforce, Deutsche Telekom, NEA, World Innovation Lab, and Lunate—signaling sustained confidence in its long-term growth potential .

Capital deployment: The funds will fuel R&D in more expressive, multilingual voice models, custom voice design tools, developer APIs, enterprise integrations (like Cisco), and AI-powered dubbing across 32+ languages .



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🎙️ Product Innovation & Market Reach

Diverse offerings: ElevenLabs has enriched its platform since its 2023 debut—adding voice cloning, emotion-driven speech, voice design, AI dubbing, background noise isolator, conversational AI agents, audiobook publishing tools, and robust multilingual support .

Model advancement: In June 2025, they unveiled “Eleven v3,” a breakthrough text-to-speech model offering support for over 70 languages, nuanced multi-speaker dialogues, and rich audio tagging (e.g., [excited], [sighs]) .

Enterprise traction: Customers span high-profile publishers (The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic), gaming studios (Paradox, Cloud Imperium Games), and sector-specific applications like healthcare and corporate voice agents .



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🌐 Competition & Market Context

Competing in a growing sector: Voice AI is rapidly gaining importance in content creation and automation. ElevenLabs competes directly with players like Speechmatics and Hume AI .

Regulatory and ethical terrain: The rise of deepfake misuse has sparked ethical concerns; in response, ElevenLabs has added verification measures and access restrictions to its voice cloning features .



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🔮 Outlook: What Comes Next?

1. Targeted expansion & hiring
Building localized teams in Paris, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico to drive user adoption and enterprise partnerships.


2. Advanced voice research
Developing even more nuanced, controlled, and expressive voice models to maintain technological leadership.


3. Enterprise integrations & partnerships
Scaling B2B operations—from Cisco integrations to dubbing solutions for media and healthcare industries.


4. IPO preparation
Strengthening revenue growth and regional presence to hit financial targets ahead of a planned IPO within a five-year horizon.




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🎯 Conclusion

ElevenLabs is aggressively positioning itself to be among the leaders in generative voice AI—combining rapid technological progress, sizzling investor momentum, and strategic geographic expansion. With a $3.3 billion valuation secured in early 2025 and a clear roadmap toward a public offering by 2030, the company is orchestrating a global play designed to shape not just the voice cloning market, but the future of audio content creation itself.

Let me know if you’d like further deep dives into their tech, competitors, or IPO comparables.


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