ElevenLabs, one of Poland’s most successful AI startups, has received state support. The Polish government has announced that it has invested $11 million in the company through the country’s official development bank, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK).
The investment was reportedly made under the terms of ElevenLabs’ Series D financing round, which closed in February of this year. The company’s $11 billion valuation in that round was also maintained by BGK. The investment also marks ElevenLabs’ first time raising funding from a Polish institutional investor.
Along with the investment, the government has also introduced a new platform for the development of the country’s AI ecosystem. The “AI Lab Poland” initiative, announced by Economy Minister Andrzej Domański, will bring together capital, technology, academia and the business sector to support AI companies.
The minister said that AI is changing the global economy in the same way that electricity and the internet once did, and Poland cannot remain outside of this process.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the founders of ElevenLabs "the Poles who conquered the world" and described the company's success as a significant achievement for the country.
It should be noted that ElevenLabs has grown rapidly in the global market in recent years with its artificial intelligence-based voice technologies, becoming one of the most valuable AI startups in Europe.
