AI voice technology startup ElevenLabs raises $2M in a pre-seed round led by Czech Credo Ventures

The London-based startup ElevenLabs has raised $2 million in a pre-seed round led by Credo Ventures, with Concept Ventures’ participation. The startup also announces launching its Beta platform that allows creators and publishers to narrate their long-form content.

• Founded by two Polish engineers Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowsk in 2022 ElevenLabs is a research company developing AI voice synthesis software with the long-term goal of instantly converting spoken audio between languages. Its features are powered by an in-house developed deep learning model for speech synthesis which realistically renders human intonation, and can adjust delivery based on context.
• ElevenLabs also offers a suite of tools for voice cloning and designing synthetic voices. The company is currently working with selected publishers on a dedicated workstation for voiceover editing. The solution has been so far tested by 250 clients — and will be more widely available in February.

“The platform we’re launching now is all about turning text into top-quality spoken audio. We want to let people enjoy their favorite book or newsletter by giving a voice to all the authors, creators and developers who couldn’t afford one,”

Mati Staniszewski, co-founder of ElevenLabs says.

• The fresh round was led by Prague-based VC firm Credo Ventures, focusing on pre-seed and seed, investing with first tickets up to €5 million. Recently, the firm co-led €2.7 million round for the UK-Czech logistics startup GoodVision along with Lead Ventures and Sofia Angels Ventures, AIN.Capital reports. UK’s fund Concept Ventures and other individual investors also participated. 
• ElevenLabs will spend the capital for the research and development of the AI dubbing, which will let users automatically re-voice any audio or video in different languages, aimed for release later this year. To date, ElevenLabs wants to scale up its solution globally and double its team, which is currently five people strong.