ElevenLabs is an AI company that builds speech synthesis and audio generation models for voice, real-time speech conversion and music. Recent coverage has focused on product releases and funding: the Eleven Realtime speech-to-speech models, with v1 Max scoring 98.8% on Big Bench Audio at a 0.57-second response time; the Eleven v4 voice model; and Music v2.5. The company also doubled its valuation to $22 billion in a $300 million employee tender and signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Group.
KittenML releases open-source 1.58-bit TTS model Kitten-TTS 2KittenML open-sourced the code and weights of Kitten-TTS 2, calling it the world's first 1.58-bit ternary-weight TTS model. The 1.7B-parameter model runs in real time on CPU alone, supports zero-shot voice cloning from under 5 seconds of audio, 20+ languages, and emotion/emphasis control, offering an open-source alternative to ElevenLabs for GPU-poor users.
ElevenLabs launches two real-time speech-to-speech modelsElevenLabs released the Eleven Realtime speech-to-speech models for low-latency conversational AI. The v1 Max variant scores 98.8% on the Big Bench Audio benchmark with a 0.57-second response time, and the company claims no model on the Artificial Analysis leaderboard is both faster and more accurate.
A16z report: consumer AI opportunities and untouched categoriesA16z partner Olivia Moore released a top 100 consumer AI apps report: ChatGPT remains dominant, while smaller players like Suno and ElevenLabs show staying power, and about half a dozen consumer categories remain untouched by AI. She sees opportunity in revenue beyond subscriptions and APIs, noting only 2.2% of U.S. households pay for AI, indicating early days.
Customer workflows emerge as the AI era's new moatThe article argues the real AI moat lies in embedding into customer workflows: an assistant handling renewals and approvals is hard to replace even if a better model appears. Schneider Electric's ~$22.6B deal for PTC, the Synopsys-OpenAI partnership and ElevenLabs' 15M+ weekly conversations illustrate the strategic value of owning where AI operates.
ElevenLabs doubles valuation to $22B in employee tenderAI voice startup ElevenLabs doubled its valuation to $22 billion from $11 billion in February through a $300 million employee tender co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price. It is the second such secondary transaction for the four-year-old company, after a $100 million tender at a $6.6 billion valuation in September 2025.
ElevenLabs launches v4 speech model with more expressive, consistent voicesElevenLabs released Eleven v4, which follows cues for laughter and whispering more accurately and keeps voices consistent across long productions like audiobooks. Its Turbo variant starts speaking in 150 milliseconds for real-time voice agents. On Artificial Analysis' Voice Arena leaderboard, v4 ranks ahead of Cartesia and Google's Gemini.
ElevenLabs reportedly valued at $22BVoice AI company ElevenLabs is reportedly valued at $22 billion by investors, with annual recurring revenue pacing at about $600 million. Its voice models power customer service for Klarna, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, and Adobe, and CEO Staniszewski said businesses should disclose when customers talk to an AI.
ElevenLabs releases Music v2.5 via app and APIElevenLabs released Music v2.5 for its AI music generator, available via app and API with free and pro tiers. The company says the model was trained only on licensed music and outperformed the prior version in a blind test of nearly 48,000 comparison pairs.
UMG and ElevenLabs launch AI music platformUniversal Music Group signed a multi-year licensing deal with ElevenLabs to build an AI platform letting users create remixes and new takes from licensed tracks; artists can opt in or out.
The A.I. Daily