Founded in 2022, Eleven Labs Enters Korean Market
CEO Staniszewski Holds Press Conference on the 21st
"Supporting Globalization of K-Content... Enhancing Customer Experience"
Eleven Labs, a voice artificial intelligence (AI) specialist company with a corporate valuation of $6.6 billion (approximately 9.7 trillion won), officially announced its entry into the Korean market on November 21.
Founded in the United Kingdom in 2022, Eleven Labs specializes in AI-powered audio tools. The company offers technology that converts text to speech, enables highly realistic multilingual dubbing, and can clone a speaker’s voice using only a short voice sample.
The company was co-founded by Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Piotr Dabkowski, a former Google engineer, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mati Staniszewski, who previously worked at Palantir. Leveraging their unique technological expertise, the company has achieved rapid growth in a short period.
Currently, Eleven Labs boasts over 50 million monthly active users, a corporate valuation of $6.6 billion, and active clients among 75% of the Fortune 500 companies, including both domestic and international customers.
Korean Market Draws Attention for High AI Adoption
Mati Staniszewski, CEO of Eleven Labs, introduced the company at a press conference held at JW Marriott Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on November 21, stating, "Eleven Labs is a voice AI creative company that gives technology a voice, breathing life into the world’s knowledge, stories, and agents."
To enter the Korean market, Eleven Labs has developed a model capable of generating Korean text and speech. The company plans to apply this technology to content production processes in the film and TV industries, as well as AI contact centers. Eleven Labs has focused on Korea’s rapid AI adoption rate, high mobile internet usage, government commitment to fostering AI, and the scalability of content such as K-pop and K-dramas.
The company is already collaborating with domestic firms such as ESTsoft, Krafton, and SBS to enhance user experiences and reduce content production costs and time.
"Breaking Language Barriers with AI Audio Technology"
CEO Staniszewski shared the case of a major digital bank that adopted the company’s AI agent platform. This bank reduced agent response time to customer inquiries from 15 minutes to 2 minutes, enabled AI to fully handle 50% of credit card-related inquiries, and achieved a turnaround from planning to product launch in less than two months.
Eleven Labs is renowned for supporting more than 70 languages and authentically reproducing the original’s emotion and nuance. The technology captures even laughter, sighs, exclamations, and breathing sounds of characters. It also improves production efficiency by reducing dubbing time and costs.
He expressed his ambition, stating, "Ultimately, we aim to break down language barriers with AI audio technology, making speech and content accessible anywhere in the world through real-time translation and dubbing."
Hong Sangwon, who heads Eleven Labs’ Korean and Japanese branches, said, "With response speeds under 500 milliseconds and ultra-low latency voice agents available 24/7 in multiple languages, we will enhance customer experience." He added, "This is not about simple replacement, but about synergy between humans and AI. While AI handles 70% of repetitive inquiries, human consultants can focus on complex tasks that require genuine empathy and creativity."
Additionally, Eleven Labs has introduced the 3C Framework to prevent concerns such as deepfake misuse, copyright infringement, and unfair practices. The 3C Framework consists of Consent, Control, and Compensation.
According to Hong, consent involves thorough verification from the outset, control refers to tracking and blocking systems, and compensation is about creating a fair revenue ecosystem. On the AI voice marketplace operated by Eleven Labs, over 10,000 voices are registered, returning $11 million in revenue.
He also stated, "We will continue to work with Korean customers until Korea becomes not just a market, but the hub of voice AI in Asia."
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