Nvidia is to make a “strategic” investment in UK AI startup ElevenLabs, as the AI-audio generator looks to bring in strategic partners in a bid to grow its business over the long term. The investment for an undisclosed amount marks the first time the US chip giant will have invested in UK unicorn ElevenLabs, which was founded in 2022.
ElevenLabs CEO and co-founder Mati Staniszewski said: “We need strategic partners. It is a good combination where they are coming in with more than capital. They are strategically bringing in the GPUs, which they have inside-out knowledge of. It is mostly from the strategic angle. Currently, we don’t need the extra capital and now we are thinking about the strategic partners that we can really bring in for the next ten years.”
The investment will be structured as a standard in-between round, said Staniszewski, speaking at an event in London hosted by ElevenLabs, showcasing how companies were using its AI voice agents.
ElevenLabs is rapidly becoming a significant force in the music and audio technology sector. In recent developments, the company confirmed ground-breaking licensing agreements with Merlin Network and Kobalt Music Group. These deals position ElevenLabs to legally license music for use in its AI-powered platform, Eleven Music. This platform enables artists and songwriters represented by Merlin and Kobalt to opt-in for their works to be used for AI training and commercial music generation.
NVIDIA is currently the world’s preeminent producer of AI chips, maintaining its status as a highly-valued technology provider due to its essential role in powering deep learning and machine intelligence applications. The company is a major force behind global advances in generative AI, robotics, and life sciences.
“We’re excited to share that NVIDIA is investing in ElevenLabs, with Jensen Huang’s support,” also announced Mati Staniszewski. “Last week’s U.S. state visit to the UK strengthened AI partnerships between the two countries and brought major new investments from American companies into the UK tech ecosystem. With our company’s roots growing deeper in both places, we couldn’t be more optimistic about the road ahead.”
ElevenLabs’ recent agreements with Merlin and Kobalt makes it one of the few AI platforms to proactively collaborate with music rights holders rather than risk legal disputes over unauthorized AI training. Merlin represents over 30,000 indie labels and distributors, while Kobalt is the largest independent music publisher in the world. Together, these licensing deals will collectively enable tens of thousands of artists and songwriters to benefit directly from AI-era royalty opportunities—if they so choose.
Although the exact financial terms of these deals remain undisclosed, sources indicate a precedent-setting 50/50 royalty split between publishing and recorded music revenues for works used to train and generate AI music. Kobalt’s contract also secures a Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause, ensuring that if any other music rights holder receives more favorable royalty terms—Kobalt will automatically update its rates to match those terms.
ElevenLabs is now valued at $6.6 billion following a recent employee share tender. This new investment from NIVIDA and the partnership with music licensing giants ensures its model is one of a collaborative, rights-respecting approach in the fast-evolving AI music sector. This separates ElevenLabs from its rivals like Suno and Udio—who are currently being sued over their unauthorized use of music and stream ripping to train their AI models.
