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

TechCrunch / 5/5/2026

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Key Points

  • ElevenLabs, a voice AI startup, disclosed new backers for its $500M Series D round, adding major institutions, corporate strategic investors, and high-profile individuals.
  • The new investor list includes firms such as BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, and Schroders, alongside enterprises/investment arms including Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Santander, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom, plus investors like Jamie Foxx and Eva Longoria.
  • The company also reported surpassing $500M in annual recurring revenue (ARR), citing rapid ARR growth from nearly $350M the prior year and $100M in net new ARR during Q1 2026.
  • ElevenLabs’ valuation has accelerated quickly, rising from $6.6B last September to $11B in February, alongside enterprise traction via contracts with companies including Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna.
  • Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm highlighted ElevenLabs’ role as an enabling platform for its Industrial AI vision, spanning voice-as-a-service, multilingual automation, and in-network AI agents.

Voice AI company ElevenLabs revealed new investors that are part of its $500 million Series D fundraise, which was first announced in February. The additions include institutions such as BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, and Schroders; enterprises like Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Santander, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom; and individual investors such as Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria, and Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.

The startup also noted that it surpassed $500 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue), after ending last year with nearly $350 million in ARR. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Mati Staniszewski, said last month that ElevenLabs added $100 million in net new ARR in Q1 2026, ending the quarter at roughly $450 million in ARR.

The company has also accelerated its valuation rapidly, growing 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,” Karine Peters, managing director at Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm T.Capital, said in a statement.

In the past quarter, the voice AI company has signed enterprise contracts with the likes of Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna.

ElevenLabs said that, besides the fundraising, it also closed a $100 million tender, a second in roughly six months after the company issued one last September. Staniszewski said in a blog post that the company will give an opportunity to retail investors to invest in ElevenLabs through Robinhood Ventures, but didn’t provide details about the program.

Staniszewski noted that consumers won’t trust systems that sound robotic or “interact strangely” and emphasized the importance of building “human-level AI voice models.” Last month, the company acquired the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla to bolster its research team.