ElevenLabs Eyes India as Strategic Growth Hub in the AI Voice Race
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As the global market for AI voice generation continues its rapid expansion is projected to surge from USD 3.5 billion in 2023 to USD 21.7 billion by 2030. AI voice generator Unicorn, ElevenLabs is doubling down on India, recognising the country's unmatched scale in multilingual content consumption, tech talent, and AI adoption. The US-based startup, valued at USD 3.3 billion following its latest Series C funding round, is positioning India at the centre of its international strategy.
The company's public breakthrough in India came when it dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-hour conversation with Lex Fridman from Hindi to English.
Why India?
"In many ways, India was always waiting for a solution like this," says Siddharth Srinivasan, GMT, India, ElevenLabs. "We are all natively bilingual or multilingual, and the internet penetration, content consumption, and developer community here are unmatched."
According to Srinivasan, India offers an ideal structural fit across five major user cohorts from consumers, creators, developers, startups, to enterprise AI users. He notes that India is now home to 2.5 to 3 million monetised content creators, a number that continues to shock even former YouTube executives like himself.
ElevenLabs operates as a SaaS platform with a two-pronged go-to-market strategy. The first is a self-serve model, allowing users to begin with a freemium tier and scale up to subscriptions starting at USD 5 (INR 400) per month. The second targets enterprises that require bespoke solutions, high-volume processing, and dedicated support.
This hybrid model has enabled the company to work across various industries. "From Pocket FM and Kuku FM in audio storytelling to social media influencers like Varun Maya. Our voice stack is helping them scale content faster and in multiple languages," says Srinivasan.
The startup is already working with leading Indian platforms such as Meesho, Apna, 99acres, and NoBroker, particularly in conversational AI and customer engagement workflows. "Some partners are using our tech to 3–4x their customer interaction scale, something they couldn't imagine doing manually," Srinivasan reveals.
In education, ElevenLabs is collaborating with startups like Supernova to create personalised, multilingual learning experiences through AI-powered conversational agents. "The promise of education technology has always been one-to-one learning. We are now able to fulfil that using voice AI," he adds.
On the cybersecurity challenges
Given the increasing misuse of voice cloning in phishing and disinformation campaigns, ElevenLabs claims to take a strict, layered approach to responsibility. "Moderation, accountability, and provenance are built into our system," says Srinivasan. He elaborates that cloning protected voices such as public figures is restricted through a "no-go voice" list, and cloning can only occur with direct consent via their "voice capture" system.
The company has also developed a speech classifier capable of identifying if a sample was generated on ElevenLabs with over 99 per cent precision. "We're working with industry standards on watermarking, detection, and are open to law enforcement partnerships," he says, pointing out that the company has successfully avoided misuse during recent US and Indian elections.
No government tie-ups yet, but social impact is on the radar
While ElevenLabs does not currently have formal partnerships with the Indian government, it is participating in NGO-led initiatives that use AI voice to support people with speech impairments. "We distribute the technology for free to those with vocal challenges, enabling them to express themselves," Srinivasan says.
He acknowledges the massive potential for collaboration in education and social policy, particularly under the IndiaAI mission. "We hope to have a meaningful role in that ecosystem," he adds.
Also, on the competition side, Srinivasan candidly explains, "If there's no competition, the space isn't worth being in." He says ElevenLabs differentiates itself through state-of-the-art research, a deeply user-centric product, and relentless execution. "Speed is the only real moat in AI," he states.
India was the first market the company expanded into outside the West, and it's likely to remain a priority. ElevenLabs already supports 11–12 Indian languages and aims to push that further with emotion-rich, dialect-sensitive outputs in its V3 (latest) models.
When asked about the future, Srinivasan is clear-eyed in ambition, "We think we are very well placed to be the voice of the Indic internet where content has no barrier and creativity knows no limit." He also hints at upcoming partnerships with Indian startups and research entities.
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