Who Is Mati Staniszewski, the Co-Founder and CEO of ElevenLabs?

Mateusz "Mati" Staniszewski is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of ElevenLabs, a synthetic voice and conversational artificial intelligence (AI) company valued at $22 billion as of October 2026.

At Layer3Labs, we build customer-service and intake agents for business workflows, and ElevenLabs is one of the voice providers a client team can choose for them.

Before founding ElevenLabs in 2022 with his high school friend Piotr Dąbkowski, Staniszewski worked as a deployment strategist at Palantir Technologies and helped launch the Aladdin Wealth platform at BlackRock.

Who Mati Staniszewski Is

Staniszewski runs ElevenLabs as CEO. Co-founder Piotr Dąbkowski is an ex-Google machine learning engineer, and ElevenLabs is based in London.

In September 2026, Digital Music News reported that ElevenLabs closed a $300 million employee tender offer valuing ElevenLabs at $22 billion. That valuation doubled the $11 billion valuation set during its Series D financing round eight months earlier.

• Current role: Chief executive officer and co-founder of ElevenLabs
• Organization headquarters: London, United Kingdom, with offices in New York City, Warsaw, and San Francisco
• Known for: Co-founding ElevenLabs, a voice AI company valued at $22 billion in September 2026
• Education: Degree in mathematics from Imperial College London
• In the news: Closing a $300 million employee tender offer valuing ElevenLabs at $22 billion in September 2026

Education and Professional Career Before ElevenLabs

According to Wikipedia, Staniszewski attended Copernicus Bilingual High School in Warsaw. He graduated from Imperial College London with a degree in mathematics.

Staniszewski worked at Opera Software and at BlackRock, where he joined the Portfolio Analytics Group and helped launch the Aladdin Wealth platform. Wikipedia does not give the years of those roles.

Prior to founding ElevenLabs, Staniszewski served as a deployment strategist at Palantir Technologies. In that role, Wikipedia says, he managed large-scale implementation across public and private sectors.

Founding Story and the Voice Dubbing Origin

As reported by Forbes Australia, Staniszewski and co-founder Piotr Dąbkowski grew up watching poorly dubbed films, which helped lead them to start ElevenLabs.

Staniszewski and Dąbkowski were high school friends. Dąbkowski became a machine learning engineer at Google, while Staniszewski worked as a deployment strategist at Palantir Technologies. Forbes reports that both quit Palantir and Google and pooled their savings to start ElevenLabs in 2022.

HLTH dates ElevenLabs' launch to January 2023. ElevenLabs is based in London, with offices in New York City, Warsaw and San Francisco. For how the ElevenLabs Agents Platform works, see ElevenLabs Agents explained.

ElevenLabs Funding History and Capital Rounds

ElevenLabs raised $781 million across five primary funding rounds before conducting its secondary tender offer. ElevenLabs completed a $2 million pre-seed round in January 2023 led by Credo Ventures, per Wikipedia. Five months later, in June 2023, ElevenLabs closed a $19 million Series A round valuing ElevenLabs at approximately $100 million, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross.

ElevenLabs secured an $80 million Series B round on 22 January 2024 at a $1.1 billion valuation. On 30 January 2025, ElevenLabs completed a $180 million Series C round at a $3.3 billion valuation, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Growth.

In February 2026, ElevenLabs raised a $500 million Series D round led by Sequoia Capital at an $11 billion valuation, as reported by Business Today and HLTH. That round raised total primary funding to $781 million. In September 2026, Digital Music News reported that a $300 million employee tender offer led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price valued ElevenLabs at $22 billion.

• January 2023: $2 million pre-seed round led by Credo Ventures
• June 2023: $19 million Series A co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross at a $100 million valuation
• January 2024: $80 million Series B round achieving a $1.1 billion valuation
• January 2025: $180 million Series C co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Growth at a $3.3 billion valuation
• February 2026: $500 million Series D led by Sequoia Capital at an $11 billion valuation
• September 2026: $300 million secondary tender offer led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price valuing ElevenLabs at $22 billion

Enterprise Product Direction Under Mati Staniszewski

When ElevenLabs announced its Series D round in February 2026, Staniszewski said, per Business Today: "This funding helps us go beyond voice alone to transform how we interact with technology altogether." He also said ElevenLabs was rolling out a new conversational model for its Agents Platform, per HLTH.

Digital Music News reported that enterprise clients account for 55% of total ElevenLabs revenue, and the ElevenLabs conversational agents handle more than 15 million weekly conversations. Staniszewski noted during the September 2026 tender offer: "We're already seeing rapid adoption of expressive voice agents by enterprises and governments."

If you are testing a voice agent for intake or support calls, check how it handles a caller who interrupts mid-sentence. See our ElevenLabs Agents review and our guide to ElevenLabs Agents alternatives.

Tender Offer Investors and the May 2022 Founding

Digital Music News reported that ElevenLabs closed a $300 million employee tender offer led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price on September 30, 2026. Digital Music News stated that Goldman Sachs, EQT, GIC, and Ontario Teachers' joined the tender as new investors.

According to Wikipedia, Staniszewski co-founded ElevenLabs in May 2022 with Piotr Dąbkowski. Wikipedia reports that Dąbkowski previously worked as a machine learning engineer at Google, while Staniszewski worked as a deployment strategist at Palantir Technologies. Forbes Australia reported that the co-founders quit Google and Palantir and pooled their savings to start ElevenLabs.

Published Net Worth of Mati Staniszewski and Corporate Governance

Forbes estimated Mati Staniszewski's net worth at $3.3 billion in October 2026. Forbes Australia reported on 2 October 2026 that Staniszewski and co-founder Piotr Dąbkowski each hold an estimated 15% equity stake in ElevenLabs. Forbes put each founder at $3.3 billion, up from $1.6 billion earlier in 2026.

In 2024, Forbes named Staniszewski and Dąbkowski to its 30 Under 30 Europe list, and Staniszewski appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine in December 2025. Per Wikipedia, Staniszewski joined the board of Klarna in 2025.

In March 2026, per Wikipedia, ElevenLabs pledged $1 billion in free voice-restoration technology for 1 million people with permanent voice loss. We also profile Aravind Srinivas, and both founders appear on our list of AI people to watch.