Observed Signal · May 5, 2026 · Funding · Source: techcrunch · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
ElevenLabs Adds BlackRock, Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria Investors
Voice AI company ElevenLabs disclosed new institutional, enterprise and individual investors as part of its previously announced $500 million Series D. New backers include BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, Schroders, Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Santander, KPN and Deutsche Telekom, alongside individual investors Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria and Hwang Dong-hyuk. The startup said it has surpassed $500 million in ARR after growing rapidly (valuation rose from $6.6B to $11B earlier in the year), signed enterprise contracts with Deutsche Telekom, Revolut and Klarna, closed a $100 million tender, and plans a retail investor opportunity via Robinhood Ventures. ElevenLabs also acquired the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla to expand research capabilities.
A major voice-AI vendor disclosed new high-profile investors, crossed a $500M ARR milestone, closed a large tender, and expanded enterprise deals — signals that voice interfaces and audio AI are scaling into enterprise CX and telecommunications, with potential downstream impact for voice-driven customer interactions and audio advertising.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- ElevenLabs announced additional investors participating in its $500M Series D, including BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, Schroders, Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Santander, KPN and Deutsche Telekom, plus individual investors Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria and Hwang Dong-hyuk.
- ElevenLabs said it surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
- The company reported adding $100 million in net new ARR in Q1 2026 and ending Q1 at roughly $450 million ARR prior to surpassing $500M.
- ElevenLabs closed a $100 million tender and plans to offer retail investors an opportunity to invest via Robinhood Ventures.
- ElevenLabs acquired the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla and has signed enterprise contracts with Deutsche Telekom, Revolut and Klarna; its valuation rose from $6.6B (September) to $11B (February).
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ElevenLabs valuation doubles to $22B in tender offer
ElevenLabs, a voice AI startup based in New York and London, completed a $300 million employee tender offer at a $22 billion valuation, doubling its valuation from February. Co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, the tender included new investors EQT, Goldman Sachs, GIC, OTPP, Sapphire Ventures, and BDT & MSD, alongside existing backers. This is the company's second secondary transaction, following a $100 million tender at $6.6 billion in September 2025. The valuation surge is driven by the rapid growth of its conversational agents platform (ElevenAgents), which has more than tripled ARR since the Series D and now handles over 15 million conversations weekly. Enterprises account for 55% of revenue, with clients like Stripe, Deutsche Telekom, and SevenRooms. ElevenLabs also released new text-to-speech models (Eleven v4 and v4 Turbo) and plans an IPO in 2-3 years. The company faces a class-action lawsuit in Illinois over alleged biometric voiceprint extraction without consent.
Major Funding Wave Fuels Voice AI Startups
Investors have backed a wave of voice-AI companies with multiple large funding rounds, signaling strong interest in voice as an AI interface and a prominent use case in customer support. Recent rounds include ElevenLabs’ $500M Series D at an $11B valuation, Decagon’s $250M Series D led by Coatue and Index, Deepgram’s $130M Series C, and Paris-based Gradium’s $70M seed. Startups building voice models and orchestration software (e.g., Phonic) are attracting follow-on capital, and existing customer-support vendors like Netomi are adding voice capabilities and courting large enterprises. Major labs are also engaging unevenly: OpenAI’s voice efforts are expected to surface in Q1, while Anthropic’s CPO has voiced skepticism about voice as the next breakout medium. Early-stage VCs continue to target vertical, regulated-market voice support startups where founders can hold domain advantage.
DXC and ElevenLabs Form Strategic Voice AI Partnership
DXC Technology announced a strategic partnership with ElevenLabs to embed advanced voice AI capabilities across DXC’s global enterprise environment, accelerating DXC’s AI-first transformation and service offerings. DXC also participated in ElevenLabs’ $500 million Series D funding round, which the article states valued ElevenLabs at about $11 billion. The collaboration targets use cases including enterprise productivity (voice agents and copilots), customer experience transformation with natural-sounding multilingual voice interfaces, industry-specific solutions, and modern application/platform engineering. DXC intends to co-develop solutions through its LabX incubator and AI Platforms Engine and pursue a joint go-to-market approach. ElevenLabs’ Revenue Leader Ben Budde and DXC President and CEO Raul Fernandez are quoted on the partnership’s scale and strategic importance.
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