Is ElevenLabs profitable in 2026?

No profitability figures are disclosed. ElevenLabs reported crossing $500M ARR by May 5, 2026, up from $330M ARR at the end of 2025, but the company has not published net income or margin data as of mid-2026.

ElevenLabs is privately held, founded in 2022 by Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski. Its Series D closed February 4, 2026 at an $11B valuation led by Sequoia Capital, with a third close in May 2026 adding BlackRock, Wellington, NVIDIA, and Santander.

Could AI replace ElevenLabs?

ElevenLabs' core text-to-speech and voice cloning layer faces commoditization as OpenAI's Realtime API and gpt-realtime-2, plus Google's Gemini TTS, ship bundled voice into their own multimodal stacks, prompting ElevenLabs to cut API and Agents pricing in May 2026.

Who is ElevenLabs' biggest competitor?

OpenAI and Google are the largest threats, having shipped Realtime API/gpt-realtime-2 and Gemini TTS respectively in 2026. Specialized rivals like Cartesia, Inworld, and smallest.ai undercut on latency and price; Meta acquired and shut down PlayHT by December 31, 2025.

What is ElevenLabs' valuation in 2026?

ElevenLabs was valued at $11B after its Series D closed February 4, 2026, led by Sequoia Capital. By July 2, 2026, Bloomberg reported early talks on a secondary tender sale that could value the company at roughly $22B, expected to close by September 2026.

Is ElevenLabs facing legal trouble?

Nine coordinated BIPA class-action lawsuits were filed in Illinois federal court in May 2026 against ElevenLabs, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Adobe, and Samsung, alleging non-consensual use of voiceprints for AI training.

AI companies and labs · United States

ElevenLabs

elevenlabs.io ↗

Makes AI voice generation and voice agent tools for enterprise customer service.

Losing its protection

Assessed 20 July 2026 · Evidence as of 20 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 20 July 2026 · Checkable from Sep 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Reported talks on a secondary/tender sale near $22B valuation expected to close

The call

ElevenLabs is growing fast on real enterprise deployments while OpenAI and Google ship competing voice features for free inside their own platforms.

ElevenLabs makes software that converts text to realistic speech and powers voice agents for companies like Klarna and Revolut. It is getting harder to replace because big companies are already locked in and use ElevenLabs as part of their customer service systems, but OpenAI, Google, and Amazon all now offer their own voice tools built into products they already sell, which makes it risky for ElevenLabs to rely on those customers staying. The company recently cut its prices, which suggests customers might be shopping around. The one thing that could change everything is whether large Fortune 500 companies keep choosing ElevenLabs over the free or cheaper voice tools from OpenAI and Google over the next year or two, and whether ElevenLabs can keep making money while prices fall.

Why

AI pressure: OpenAI Realtime API, Google Gemini TTS. OpenAI and Google now ship voice directly inside their own multimodal stacks, undercutting ElevenLabs on price and bundling. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.

Bigger players: OpenAI, Google, Microsoft Azure AI Speech, Amazon, Meta. Five of the largest AI companies now offer voice features inside platforms customers already pay for, pressuring standalone voice pricing. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. Live enterprise deployments at Klarna, Revolut and Deutsche Telekom plus multilingual agent workflows that are costly to rip out.

What would change this call

A major enterprise (Fortune 500 scale) picks OpenAI Realtime API or Gemini TTS over ElevenLabs for a new voice-agent deployment. Would show frontier labs winning new logos ElevenLabs previously would have gotten.
BIPA class-action lawsuits filed May 2026 reach settlement or verdict, with disclosed dollar amount. Reveals whether legal exposure is bounded or materially damaging to finances.
ElevenLabs gross margins or ARR growth trend reported around the rumored $22B tender/IPO process. Shows whether price cuts are stabilizing margins or growth is flattening.

Key numbers

$500M ARR reached (May 2026)
9 coordinated BIPA lawsuits filed (May 2026)
$11B valuation on $500M Series D (Feb 2026)

Named risks

Nine coordinated BIPA class-action lawsuits filed May 2026 could result in large settlements. Severity: high
Frontier labs OpenAI and Google bundling voice natively risk commoditizing core TTS business. Severity: high
Repeated 2026 price cuts across API, Agents, and Music suggest margin compression. Severity: medium
Wildly inconsistent headcount data across trackers (400 to 1,064) signals reporting instability. Severity: low
Pending $22B secondary valuation talks unfinalized as of July 2026 could collapse or reprice down. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
OpenAI	gaining on	Shipped Realtime API and gpt-realtime-2 voice model in 2026, prompting ElevenLabs price cuts May 2026
Google	gaining on	Shipped Gemini TTS and Veo as direct voice/video competitors in 2026
Meta	contesting	Acquired PlayHT/PlayAI and shut it down by Dec 31, 2025, removing a rival but expanding own voice stack
Cartesia	contesting	Undercuts ElevenLabs on latency and price with Sonic model, cited as alternative in 2026 reviews
Klarna and Revolut (as customers)	gaining on	Klarna and Revolut deployed ElevenLabs Agents at scale in Jan-Feb 2026, showing enterprise lock-in over rivals

Questions people ask

Is ElevenLabs profitable in 2026?: No profitability figures are disclosed. ElevenLabs reported crossing $500M ARR by May 5, 2026, up from $330M ARR at the end of 2025, but the company has not published net income or margin data as of mid-2026.
Who owns ElevenLabs?: ElevenLabs is privately held, founded in 2022 by Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski. Its Series D closed February 4, 2026 at an $11B valuation led by Sequoia Capital, with a third close in May 2026 adding BlackRock, Wellington, NVIDIA, and Santander.
Could AI replace ElevenLabs?: ElevenLabs' core text-to-speech and voice cloning layer faces commoditization as OpenAI's Realtime API and gpt-realtime-2, plus Google's Gemini TTS, ship bundled voice into their own multimodal stacks, prompting ElevenLabs to cut API and Agents pricing in May 2026.
Who is ElevenLabs' biggest competitor?: OpenAI and Google are the largest threats, having shipped Realtime API/gpt-realtime-2 and Gemini TTS respectively in 2026. Specialized rivals like Cartesia, Inworld, and smallest.ai undercut on latency and price; Meta acquired and shut down PlayHT by December 31, 2025.
What is ElevenLabs' valuation in 2026?: ElevenLabs was valued at $11B after its Series D closed February 4, 2026, led by Sequoia Capital. By July 2, 2026, Bloomberg reported early talks on a secondary tender sale that could value the company at roughly $22B, expected to close by September 2026.
Is ElevenLabs facing legal trouble?: Nine coordinated BIPA class-action lawsuits were filed in Illinois federal court in May 2026 against ElevenLabs, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Adobe, and Samsung, alleging non-consensual use of voiceprints for AI training.

Timeline

2026-07-02Bloomberg reports early talks on secondary tender at roughly $22B valuation
2026-06-08Sifted reports nine coordinated BIPA lawsuits filed against ElevenLabs and big tech
2026-05-26ElevenLabs launches Music v2, cuts self-serve music pricing 40-50%
2026-05-07ElevenLabs cuts API and Agents pricing, introduces pay-as-you-go
2026-05-05ElevenLabs announces crossing $500M ARR and third Series D close of $100M
2026-03-01ElevenLabs pledges $1B in free voice restoration technology at SXSW
2026-02-11ElevenLabs launches government-focused product vertical
2026-02-04ElevenLabs raises $500M Series D at $11B valuation led by Sequoia Capital
2025-09-01Employee tender offer values ElevenLabs at $6.6B
2025-01-30ElevenLabs raises $180M Series C at $3.3B valuation

Revision history

20 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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