Jan 30 (Reuters) - ElevenLabs said on Thursday it has

raised $180 million in a new funding round that triples the

voice cloning artificial intelligence startup's valuation to

$3.3 billion.

The Series C funding round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz

and Iconiq Growth, with participation from additional new

investors NEA, World Innovation Lab, Valor, Endeavor Catalyst

Fund and Lunate.

Investors are racing to fund generative AI startups after

the meteoric success of OpenAI's ChatGPT to capitalize on the

commercial potential of AI-powered products.

Headquartered in London, ElevenLabs aims to use the funding

to expand its research into more expressive and controllable

voice AI, create new products and expand its tools for

developers and businesses.

The startup, which offers tools for creating AI-generated

voices with different languages, accents and emotions, has

raised a total of $281 million in funding since its founding in

2021.

ElevenLabs was co-founded by Piotr Dabkowski and Mati

Staniszewski, who have previously worked at Google and

Palantir Technologies ( PLTR ), respectively.

"This funding moves us closer to a world where digital

interactions happen by voice - fluid, natural, and as effortless

as a conversation," said CEO Mati Staniszewski.

ElevenLabs added it broadened its product lineup by adding

tools for speech generation, voice design, sound effects and

AI-driven dubbing in 32 languages in 2024.

The startup has partnerships with publishers including The

New Yorker, The Washington Post and The Atlantic, and gaming

studios such as Paradox and Cloud Imperium Games, according to

its website.

ElevenLabs said that existing investors Sequoia Capital,

Salesforce Ventures, Smash Capital, SV Angel, NFDG, BroadLight

Capital were also increasing their support.