Key facts
- AI voice company ElevenLabs is reportedly in early talks for a secondary share sale.
- The proposed valuation for the tender offer is approximately $22 billion.
- This valuation nearly doubles the $11 billion reached in its Series D round five months ago.
- The transaction is structured as a tender offer, allowing employees to sell shares.
- No new capital is being raised by the company in this transaction.
- ElevenLabs' annualized revenue surpassed $500 million by May 2026.
London-based AI startup ElevenLabs is reportedly in early discussions for a secondary share sale that would value the company at approximately $22 billion. This valuation represents a near doubling of its previous $11 billion valuation achieved just five months prior during its Series D funding round.
The transaction is structured as a tender offer, a mechanism that allows existing employees and early investors to sell their shares to outside buyers without the company issuing new stock or raising fresh capital. This means ElevenLabs will not be required to publish the extensive financial disclosures typically associated with a primary funding round.
ElevenLabs has experienced rapid valuation growth, reaching $1.1 billion in early 2024, $3.3 billion in its January 2025 Series C, $6.6 billion in a September 2025 tender offer, and $11 billion in its February 2026 Series D, which was led by Sequoia Capital and included investors like BlackRock, Nvidia, a16z, and Iconiq Growth. If the current talks materialize at $22 billion, the company will have seen a roughly 20-fold increase in its valuation in under two years.
The company's revenue growth supports this trajectory, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) closing 2025 at around $330 million and surpassing $500 million by May 2026. Enterprise clients include major corporations such as Cisco, Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, Meta, Salesforce, and The Washington Post, alongside gaming developers like Paradox Interactive and consulting firms like Boston Consulting Group. The company anticipates enterprise revenue to represent 70% of its total revenue by 2027.
At a $22 billion valuation against $500 million in ARR, investors are paying roughly 44 times recurring revenue. This multiple is considered steep by conventional software standards, reflecting the market's pricing of ElevenLabs as the potential default infrastructure layer for AI voice technology, while also factoring in potential legal and competitive pressures.
