ElevenLabs lists BlackRock, Jamie Foxx and Longoria as new investors

ElevenLabs, a pioneering company in voice artificial intelligence, has announced a roster of new investors who have joined its $500 million Series D funding round, initially revealed in February. Among these investors are well-known institutions like BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, and Schroders, alongside influential enterprises such as NVIDIA, Salesforce, Santander, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom. Notably, the venture has also attracted prominent individual investors, including actor Jamie Foxx and actress Eva Longoria, as well as Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of the hit series Squid Game. In a significant milestone, ElevenLabs reported that it has surpassed $500 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), having ended the previous year with approximately $350 million. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Mati Staniszewski, highlighted that ElevenLabs achieved an impressive $100 million in new ARR during the first quarter of 2026, bringing its total to about $450 million at the quarter's close. The rapid growth of the company’s valuation has been remarkable, soaring from $6.6 billion last September to $11 billion as of February. Karine Peters, Managing Director at Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm T. Capital, praised ElevenLabs, stating, "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." In addition to its fundraising success, ElevenLabs has secured enterprise contracts with major companies like Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna over the past quarter. The startup has also completed a $100 million tender, its second within roughly six months, following a previous one last September. Staniszewski mentioned in a blog that retail investors will soon have the chance to invest in ElevenLabs through Robinhood Ventures, although he did not disclose further details about this initiative. Emphasizing the need for trust in AI systems, Staniszewski remarked that consumers are unlikely to accept voices that sound robotic or behave unnaturally. He stressed the importance of developing "human-level AI voice models" to foster user confidence. Recently, the company has also strengthened its research capabilities by acquiring the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla.