ElevenLabs, a London-based startup focused on developing artificial intelligence tools for voice-related tasks, has achieved a valuation of 22 billion dollars after a private placement offering worth 300 million dollars to its employees. This marks a significant increase from its previous valuation of 11 billion dollars following a funding round in February of last year. The private placement was managed by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, with participation from established investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, and Iconiq, as well as new investors like EQT and Goldman Sachs. Unlike traditional funding rounds, a private placement allows existing shareholders to sell their shares to investors, offering liquidity without the company needing to raise new capital. ElevenLabs was founded in 2022 by Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski. Based in London, the company has become a leading name in Europe and beyond for its voice synthesis tools. The company claims its internally developed AI models can speak, listen, and translate in over 90 languages used by more than 5.5 billion people, which is nearly two-thirds of the world’s population. The new capital is intended to support the company’s rapid growth and expansion. ElevenLabs reports that its AI-powered agents now handle more than 15 million conversations per week, three times the number from February. These agents perform a variety of tasks, including processing refunds, renewing insurance contracts, and scheduling appointments. The company's clients include major organizations such as Stripe, Deutsche Telekom, and the Ukrainian government. With over 800 employees, ElevenLabs states that 55% of its revenue now comes from companies. Mati Staniszewski, co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs, believes that AI should interact with people in the same way humans interact with each other. He argues that achieving this level of interaction will help spread AI throughout the economy and allow people of all technical abilities to benefit from it. He notes that companies and governments are already quickly adopting expressive voice agents to serve their customers and citizens. ElevenLabs is one of the standout AI companies in Europe, joining other notable firms such as Mistral in France, which has a valuation of 24 billion dollars, and Lovable, which is valued at 13.3 billion dollars.