20VC: ElevenLabs Hits $200M ARR: The Untold Story of Europe's Fastest Growing AI Startup | The Real Cost of AI from Talent to Data Centres | How US VCs are in a Different League to Europeans | The Future of Foundation Models with Mati Staniszewski
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 693 Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2025
⏱️ 74 minutes
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Summary
Mati Staniszewski is the Co-Founder and CEO of ElevenLabs, the world's leading AI voice platform. Since launching in 2022, ElevenLabs has raised over $350M, most recently at a $3.3BN valuation, making it one of Europe's fastest AI unicorns. The company counts Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Sequoia Capital among its backers. Today, Mati announces that the company has hit a staggering $200M ARR. ElevenLabs took 20 months to hit $100M ARR. 10 months to hit $200M ARR. Can they do $300M in 5 months…
AGENDA:
[00:00] $100M in 20 Months?! ElevenLabs Untold Growth Story
[12:20] Are AI Models Already Plateauing—or Just Getting Started?
[14:00] Why OpenAI Can't Beat ElevenLabs
[17:30] The Talent Wars: How Do You Retain World-Class AI Researchers?
[23:10] PR vs Product: Why Most Startups Botch Their Launch
[36:00] Are U.S. VCs Playing a Different Game Than Europe?
[44:00] The Real Cost of AI: Why ElevenLabs Built Its Own Data Centers
[59:00] Voice Agents = Multi-Billion Dollar Business of the Future?
[01:05:00] Buy OpenAI or Anthropic? Which Foundation Model Wins?
[01:09:30] Europe: Strengths, Weaknesses and What Needs to be Done
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So we crossed 200 million now. |
| 0:02.0 | So we did 20 months to 100 and then around 10 months to 200. |
| 0:07.1 | Our biggest contract is around 2 million. |
| 0:09.3 | Pre-seer was tough. |
| 0:10.3 | I think we spoke with a good amount of investors. |
| 0:13.7 | Between 30 to 50, we raised 2 million. |
| 0:16.8 | 2 million. |
| 0:17.2 | Do you remember the price? |
| 0:18.2 | 9 million. |
| 0:19.3 | This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings. And today we have one of the fastest growing AI companies in the world in the hot seat. |
| 0:25.5 | So they did 20 months to $100 million in ARR, just 10 months to $200 million in ARR, which they announced exclusively in this episode today. |
| 0:35.2 | They've raised over $350 million, with the last round, |
| 0:38.9 | pricing them at $3.3 billion, 11 Labs, and I'm so thrilled to welcome their co-founder, |
| 0:45.0 | Mattie, to the Hot Seat today. But before we dive into the show stay, I love seeing the team |
| 0:49.7 | come together to make this show happen. What I don't love is trying to keep track of all the |
| 0:53.9 | information, |
| 0:54.6 | the data and the projects that we're working on across dozens of platforms, products and tools. |
| 0:59.5 | That's why we use Coda, the all-in-one collaborative workspace that's helped 50,000 teams all over |
| 1:06.0 | the world get on the same page. Offering the flexibility of docs with the structure of spreadsheets, |
| 1:11.5 | Coda facilitates deeper teamwork and quicker creativity. And their turnkey AI solution, the intelligence |
| 1:17.5 | of Coda brain, is a game changer. Powered by Grammally, Coda is entering a new phase of |
| 1:22.7 | innovation and expansion, aiming to redefine productivity for the AI era. Whether you're a startup looking to |
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