ElevenLabs, the London-based software company that specialises in developing natural-sounding speech synthesis and text-to-speech software with artificial intelligence (AI), has gained unicorn status.

The company on Monday said that it had raised $80 million in Series B funding from investors. The round was led by venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz with additional funding from entrepreneurs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, Sequoia Capital and others.

While the company did not disclose a valuation, the round reportedly valued it at $1.1 billion, according to sources cited by Reuters.

The company was previously valued at around $100 million in 2023, but it has benefited from a resurgence in interest in AI over the past 12 months. Its AI voice generation tech in particular is garnering interest from the game and film industries, while political campaign staff in the US are using ElevenLabs tech to reach ESL voters.

ElevenLabs chief exec Mati Staniszewski told Reuters that it plans to expand its employee base from about 40 to 100 by the end of the year, and that the company will continue its work in AI detection.

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