Governor Kathy Hochul announced that ElevenLabs — a British company specializing in artificial intelligence that develops foundational models and products for seamless human-computer interaction — will significantly expand its United States operations in New York City and create up to 230 new jobs.
“New York is becoming one of the world’s premiere destinations for artificial intelligence companies, and ElevenLabs’ decision to expand here is proof that our strategy is working,” Governor Hochul said. “With 230 new high-quality jobs, a $33 million R&D investment, and a fast-growing global footprint, ElevenLabs is choosing the Empire State because of our unmatched talent, energy and commitment to responsible technological advancement. We look forward to supporting the company’s continued growth in New York.”
Founded in 2022 by Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, childhood best friends from Warsaw who were inspired by the poor dubbing of content in their native Poland, the company started with creating human-like AI voice models and have expanded to a suite of frontier audio models used to power an Agents Platform for omnichannel customer engagement, as well as a creative platform for generating speech, music, image, and video. ElevenLabs serves millions of users and thousands of businesses from the fastest growing startups to the largest enterprises.
As part of this expansion, ElevenLabs will create 230 new engineering and corporate jobs, retain 36 existing New York City positions, and invest $33 million in research and development. Nearly 100 of the projected new roles will be software engineering positions, strengthening New York’s growing AI and technology workforce. The company will relocate from its current Spring Street offices to a larger space at 40 Crosby Street in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood. Empire State Development (ESD) is supporting ElevenLabs with up to $4.4 million in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits, which are tied to the company’s planned job creation and research and development investments.
Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “ElevenLabs is at the forefront of innovation in generative AI audio, and its expansion in New York City reinforces our state’s leadership in attracting the world’s most dynamic technology companies. This project will create hundreds of good-paying jobs, deepen New York’s bench of engineering talent, and support cutting-edge R&D that strengthens our growing AI ecosystem. ESD is proud to support ElevenLabs as it scales its U.S. operations here in the Empire State.”
ElevenLabs Co-Founder Mati Staniszewski said, “New York City is a global center for innovation, talent, and creative energy, making it the ideal place for ElevenLabs to scale our U.S. presence. This expansion allows us to deepen our investment in frontier AI research, expand our industry partnerships, and advance our mission of reimagining human-technology interaction. We want to lead New York’s rapidly expanding AI ecosystemand this investment puts us in position to do so.”
