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ElevenLabs Reaches $22 Billion Valuation As Employee Tender Offer Expands Liquidity For Early Talent

Voice AI startup ElevenLabs, the company behind ultra-realistic synthetic voices and sound effects, has given employees the chance to sell a portion of their vested equity in a tender offer that values the business at $22 billion — roughly double the $11 billion mark it reached when it raised $500 million in February.

Employee Liquidity Becomes A Retention Strategy

The $300 million secondary sale allowed employees to cash out shares to investors, with the transaction co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price. Both firms are among the institutional backers that typically invest in private companies with the expectation of holding stock through an eventual public listing.

The deal reflects a broader shift across the AI sector, where fast-growing startups are increasingly using employee liquidity as a retention tool. In a market defined by intense competition for technical talent, the ability to monetize equity before an IPO can be a powerful incentive to stay.

A Second Secondary Transaction In Four Years

This is the second time the four-year-old company has authorized a secondary transaction for employees. In September 2025, ElevenLabs conducted a $100 million tender offer at a $6.6 billion valuation, underscoring how quickly investor appetite for the company has accelerated.

Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs has built a reputation for creating highly realistic voice generation technology. Based in New York and London, the company now ranks among Europe’s most valuable startups, a notable position in a region where scale and global reach remain competitive advantages.

Momentum In A Red-Hot AI Market

The latest valuation highlights how leading AI infrastructure and application companies are commanding premium prices as investors continue to prioritize category-defining products and strong retention dynamics. For ElevenLabs, the tender offer is not just a financing event; it is also a signal of confidence in the company’s long-term trajectory and its ability to keep top employees engaged as rivals intensify their hiring efforts.

Trump Administration Launches AI-Powered America.gov With Google Gemini And Elon Musk’s Grok

The Trump administration has unveiled a new chatbot designed to help Americans navigate government websites, powered by artificial intelligence from Google’s Gemini and Elon Musk’s Grok, according to U.S. Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia.

Gebbia said the system, launched through America.gov, is intended to make federal information easier to find, more current and more reliable. Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box shortly before the site went live, he described the initiative as a major step toward modernizing the public-facing digital experience of government.

A Digital Front Door For Government Services

According to Gebbia, the platform connects with roughly 29,000 government websites and scans those sources in real time to answer user questions with information drawn only from official channels.

“You come to America.gov and you ask for what you need, and in a chat interface, we go off on the back end and scan across all those tens of thousands of websites to pull in any information that is specific to whatever your request is, and give you a personalized response that’s only from official sources,” he said. “So there’s no chance of getting outdated or inaccurate information like you might on third-party websites.”

The pitch is straightforward: replace the fragmented, often outdated experience of navigating government portals with a single conversational interface. For a public sector ecosystem spread across thousands of websites, that kind of centralization could prove consequential.

Google Touts Gemini’s Role

Google confirmed its involvement in a blog post published Tuesday, saying it was “proud to be named a technology partner” in what it called a vital initiative. The company said Gemini would help more than 100 million people access public resources “with greater speed and ease.”

Google added that it remains committed to supporting the administration’s digital modernization effort and making public services “seamless, accessible, and responsive for all Americans.” A Google spokesperson referred CNBC to that post for comment.

Musk, Xai And The Broader AI Network

Grok developer xAI, which CNBC reported was acquired by SpaceX and renamed SpaceXAI, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gebbia also serves on Tesla’s board, and Tesla uses Grok in its vehicles, placing him at the intersection of government technology, transportation and Musk’s wider AI ecosystem.

The involvement of both Google and Musk-linked technology underscores how public-sector AI adoption is increasingly being shaped by the same companies driving the commercial AI race. That convergence is likely to draw scrutiny as governments seek faster, smarter services without compromising accuracy, neutrality or accountability.

Trump Casts The Launch As A Broader Reset

The site was introduced during a day-long event at Washington’s Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, attended by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials and business leaders.

“It’s not just simply a website. It’s a restoration of America’s founding promise, and it’s a reinvention of your government for the 21st century and beyond,” Trump said during remarks at the event.

The program also includes panel discussions on artificial intelligence, energy, health, space and agriculture, reflecting the administration’s effort to frame AI as a cross-sector policy priority rather than a narrow technology project.

For Washington, America.gov is more than a consumer-facing chatbot. It is a test case for how far AI can go in reshaping the state’s relationship with citizens—especially when the promise is efficiency, but the expectations are trust, precision, and scale.

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