ElevenLabs welcomes BlackRock, Jamie Foxx, and Eva Longoria as new investors

Voice AI company ElevenLabs revealed additional investors participating in its $500 million Series D fundraising round, originally announced in February. The newly disclosed participants include major institutions such as BlackRock, Wellington Management, D. E. Shaw & Co., and Schroders; corporate investors including Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Santander, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom; and individual backers such as Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria, and Hwang Dong-hyuk.

The startup also reported that it has surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), after closing last year with nearly $350 million in ARR. Co-founder and CEO Mati Staniszewski stated last month that ElevenLabs generated $100 million in net new ARR during Q1 2026, bringing the company to approximately $450 million in ARR by the end of that quarter.

The company’s valuation has also climbed quickly, rising 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. 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,” said Karine Peters, managing director at Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm T.Capital.

Over the past quarter, ElevenLabs has secured enterprise agreements with companies including Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna.

In addition to the funding round, the company confirmed it has completed a $100 million tender offer — its second within roughly six months following a similar move last September. Staniszewski also noted in a blog post that ElevenLabs plans to allow retail investors to participate through Robinhood Ventures, though further details have not yet been disclosed.

Staniszewski emphasised that users are unlikely to trust systems that sound robotic or behave unnaturally, highlighting the importance of developing “human-level AI voice models.” Last month, the company strengthened its research capabilities by acquiring the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla.