Eleven Labs

We envision a future where voice serves as the most natural and expressive interface between humans and technology, breaking down language barriers and enriching digital experiences worldwide. Our mission is to democratize access to high-fidelity, emotionally nuanced audio that empowers creators, educators, businesses, and developers to craft immersive and personalized narratives across every medium.

Driven by cutting-edge generative AI and deep expertise in speech synthesis, we are pioneering advanced voice technologies that emulate the subtlety and complexity of human communication. By building scalable platforms and open ecosystems for voice innovation, we enable seamless integration of natural audio interactions into everyday digital environments, transforming how people connect, learn, and create.

As stewards of ethical AI development, we are committed to fostering responsible use and advancing the state of voice technologies to unlock new forms of human creativity and accessibility. Our work propels a future where expressive, human-like audio enriches every facet of life and work, forging a new era of digital intelligence and empathy.

We've been tracking ElevenLabs since their early days, and frankly, we're impressed by how quickly they've gone from "startup with a dubbing problem" to "the company that's making AI voices actually sound human." Their journey from wanting better movie dubbing to building what's arguably the most sophisticated text-to-speech platform we've tested is pretty remarkable.

What Makes Their Voices Special

Here's the thing about ElevenLabs — their voices don't just read text, they actually understand it. We've tested dozens of TTS platforms, and most sound like robots reading a grocery list. ElevenLabs captures emotional nuance, adjusts pacing naturally, and somehow makes synthetic voices feel genuinely expressive.

The voice cloning feature is particularly clever. You can create a custom voice from just a small audio sample, and the results are uncannily accurate. We tried it with our own voices and honestly got a bit spooked by how realistic it sounded.

Beyond Just Text-to-Speech

What caught our attention is how they've expanded beyond basic TTS into a full audio ecosystem. Their conversational AI platform has already spawned over 250,000 voice agents in just two months — that's adoption at scale. The dubbing capabilities are being used by Fortune 500 companies, and they've localized over a million hours of audio content.

The ElevenReader tool is a nice touch too. It's already read aloud a million hours of content from ebooks and PDFs, making information more accessible for people with disabilities or those who prefer audio consumption.

Who Should Pay Attention

This platform works for everyone from indie podcast creators to enterprise developers. If you're building conversational AI, creating content in multiple languages, or just need high-quality voiceovers without hiring voice actors, ElevenLabs delivers.

We're particularly excited about their API offerings for developers. The fact that 60% of Fortune 500 companies are already using their platform suggests they've nailed the enterprise-grade reliability that larger organizations demand.

The $180 million Series C funding and rapid team expansion from 30 to 120 employees shows serious momentum. With offices in London, New York, and Warsaw, they're positioning themselves as a global player in the AI audio space — and based on what we've seen, they're earning that position.