ElevenLabs is authorizing employees to cash out a portion of their vested equity at a $22 billion valuation, doubling the $11 billion mark the AI voice startup hit when it raised $500 million in February, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday.
The company ran a $300 million tender offer so staff could sell shares to investors. The transaction was co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, large institutional buyers that TechCrunch said back private companies with the intention of holding the stock through an IPO. A Reuters wire earlier Wednesday also framed the $22 billion mark as a valuation doubling on surging demand for AI voice agents, matching the tender valuation TechCrunch described.
This is ElevenLabs’ second employee secondary. The company previously authorized a $100 million tender at a $6.6 billion valuation in September 2025. Founded in 2022 and based in New York and London, ElevenLabs is known for generating ultra-realistic human voices and sound effects. At the new mark, TechCrunch said the company joins the ranks of Europe’s most valuable startups. CEO Mati Staniszewski spoke with TechCrunch last week; that conversation was separate from Wednesday’s tender announcement and did not supply a quote used here.
The offering sits inside a broader pattern among fast-growing AI companies that use employee liquidity as a retention tool. By opening a structured window for vested equity, startups can let early staff realize gains without a full exit, reducing the pull of rival offers while still bringing patient capital onto the cap table. For ElevenLabs, the $300 million window refreshes paper wealth for employees and seats long-hold institutions ahead of any public listing.