ElevenLabs Hits Valuation of $22 Billion

ElevenLabs, the AI audio company that owns ElevenMusic, has reached a valuation of $22 billion, doubled from $11 billion in February. This massive increase comes after ElevenLabs announced its sweeping AI licensing deal with Universal Music Group (UMG).

Follow the money:

• The $22 billion is based on a $300 million employee tender offer. This means current employees can sell their owned shares to investors for an individual profit ahead of an IPO.

• Wellington and T. Rowe Price led the tender.

• Some of the new investors in ElevenLabs have a music industry presence.

• The Singaporean fund GIC owns 4.7% of UMG.

• Another investor, EQT, co-owns French indie powerhouse Believe, which also signed a licensing deal with ElevenLabs back in April.

• $22 billion is four times larger than Suno’s recent $5.4 billion valuation.

• Other backers include Goldman Sachs, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Sapphire Ventures, BDT & MSD, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, ICONIQ, D.E. Shaw, Evantic, DISRUPTIVE, and Alkeon.

• Alkeon and Lightspeed are also invested in Suno.

Background:

• ElevenLabs’ AI agent, ElevenAgent, fields over 15 million conversations a week.

What they said:

• Mati Staniszewski, Co-Founder and CEO of ElevenLabs: AI should interact with people the way we interact with each other. Getting this right will help ensure AI diffuses widely across the economy, and everyone is able to shape and benefit from it, regardless of technical skill. We’re already seeing rapid adoption of expressive voice agents by enterprises and governments, who are deploying them in service of consumers and citizens. As we grow, it’s important to us to let our people share in some of the value they are creating for our customers and the wider world.”