Poland has purchased an equity stake in ElevenLabs, the AI voice synthesis company founded by two Polish entrepreneurs, as the country makes an aggressive push to establish itself as a premier European technology hub.
ElevenLabs, which specializes in realistic voice generation and dubbing technology, hit an $11 billion valuation in February 2026 after closing a $500 million Series D round led by Sequoia Capital. That’s a staggering trajectory for a company that didn’t exist before April 2022.
From Warsaw childhoods to billion-dollar valuations
The company was co-founded by Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, both of whom grew up in Warsaw. Their origin story is surprisingly analog for an AI company: they were frustrated by the quality of dubbed films they watched as kids in Poland. That annoyance eventually became a business thesis, and the business thesis became an $11 billion enterprise in roughly four years.
Before the massive Series D, ElevenLabs had already secured $180 million in a Series C round in January 2025 at a valuation of approximately $3.3 billion. The company more than tripled its valuation in about 13 months.
