ElevenLabs: „It Cannot Be an AI Bubble, Because Companies Are Actually Buying It“

At the TechBBQ conference last week in Copenhagen, I had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Carles Reina from ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs is that AI startup for audio applications like voice cloning, text-to-speech, and music generation, which is now valued at $3.3 billion and is among the global stars of the GenAI movement.

I had a pretty exciting and open conversation with Carles, not just about audio AI, but also about a possible AI bubble, about copyright, and about what AI startups will soon be facing – listen in, it’s absolutely worth it!

1. From First Investor to Go-to-Market Leader

• Why Carles Reina switched from investor to operator role
• The vision of AI Voice as fundamental communication infrastructure

2. Competitive Moats: More than just Technology

• Research and model quality as core USP
• The Voice Marketplace: Artists earn with their voices
• Multi-layered Defensibility: The „Onion Principle“

3. Competition with Tech Giants: David vs. Goliath

• Why OpenAI and Google don’t keep Carles up at night
• The advantage of specialization over Big Tech
• Quality vs. Distribution: Who wins?

4. Growth and Profitability

• From 0 to $100M ARR in 17 months
• Unit Economics and the path to profitability
• Why AI is not a bubble
• The Future of Startup Financing
• 2022: Foundation Models, 2023: Applications, 2024: Distribution Why Go-to-Market becomes the new investment priority Distribution strategies for different markets

5. Partnerships and Licensing

• Why Apple and Meta increasingly rely on partnerships
• ElevenLabs Music: The legal path through record label deals
• Telcos as new sexy distribution partners

6. The Future of Voice AI

• Speech-to-Speech and Real-Time Conversations
• Expanding from 70 to 500 languages
• Omni-Models: Music, voice and sounds from one model
• Enterprise as fastest growing segment
• Global expansion and new offices
• The vision: ElevenLabs in every moment of the day