ElevenLabs Adds BlackRock, Jamie Foxx, and Longoria as Investors
▼ Summary
– ElevenLabs added BlackRock, NVIDIA, Salesforce, and other prominent investors to its $500 million Series D round, alongside individual investors like Jamie Foxx and Eva Longoria.
– The company surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue, adding $100 million in net new ARR in Q1 2026 after ending the previous year at nearly $350 million.
– Its valuation accelerated from $6.6 billion in September to $11 billion in February.
– The voice AI company signed enterprise contracts with Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna in the past quarter.
– ElevenLabs closed a second $100 million tender in six months and plans to offer retail investors an opportunity via Robinhood Ventures.
Voice AI company ElevenLabs has unveiled a slate of new backers joining its massive $500 million Series D fundraising round, originally announced in February. The updated investor list includes major institutional players like BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, and Schroders, alongside corporate giants NVIDIA, Salesforce, Santander, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom. Notable individual investors now include actor Jamie Foxx, actress and producer Eva Longoria, and Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.
The startup also disclosed that it has crossed the $500 million mark in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). This milestone comes after the company ended last year with roughly $350 million in ARR. In a blog post, co-founder and CEO Mati Staniszewski revealed that ElevenLabs added $100 million in net new ARR during Q1 2026, closing the quarter at approximately $450 million. The company has seen its valuation accelerate dramatically, climbing from $6.6 billion last September to $11 billion this February.
“Voice is the highest-stakes channel for any customer interaction, and the bar for quality, latency, and security is extremely high. ElevenLabs is not just a category leader – it is becoming a foundational enabler of Deutsche Telekom’s broader Industrial AI vision,” said Karine Peters, Managing Director at Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm T. Capital, in a statement. “From voice-as-a-service to multilingual automation and in-network AI agents, we believe the company is uniquely positioned to reshape how businesses interact with customers across all channels.”
The past quarter saw ElevenLabs secure enterprise contracts with major names including Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna. Beyond the Series D fundraise, the company also closed a $100 million tender, marking its second such offering in roughly six months, following one last September. Staniszewski noted that the firm will offer retail investors a chance to participate through Robinhood Ventures, though specific program details remain undisclosed.
Staniszewski stressed that consumers will reject systems that sound robotic or “interact strangely,” emphasizing the need to build “human-level AI voice models.” Last month, the company bolstered its research capabilities by acquiring the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla.
(Source: TechCrunch)