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ElevenLabs vs Perplexity AI: Founders, CEOs and History

ElevenLabs was founded in 2022 by Mati Staniszewski, Piotr Dabkowski and is led by Mati Staniszewski. Perplexity AI was founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats and is led by Aravind Srinivas.

Company facts

ElevenLabs

Founded
2022
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom & New York City, New York, United States
Current CEO
Mati Staniszewski
Employees
800

Perplexity AI

Founded
2022
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States
Current CEO
Aravind Srinivas
Employees
220

Founders

ElevenLabs

  • Mati Staniszewski

    Mati Staniszewski is the Polish-born co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs. He grew up near Warsaw, studied mathematics at Imperial College London and worked at Palantir before starting ElevenLabs with school friend Piotr Dabkowski in 2022.

  • Piotr Dabkowski

    Piotr Dabkowski is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of ElevenLabs. He studied at the University of Cambridge, worked as a machine learning engineer at Google and leads the research behind ElevenLabs' speech, transcription and music models. Piotr Dabkow…

ElevenLabs founders in full

Perplexity AI

  • Aravind Srinivas

    Aravind Srinivas is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Perplexity AI. He has directed the company from early prototype to an $9 billion search powerhouse, advocating for conversational answer engines that deliver direct cited facts.

  • Denis Yarats

    Denis Yarats is a co-founder and chief technology officer of Perplexity AI. He architects the low-latency web indexing, ranking, and retrieval-augmented generation pipelines that power the search engine.

Perplexity AI founders in full

CEOs and their tenures

ElevenLabs

  1. Mati Staniszewski2022–present

    Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

    As Co-Founder and CEO, he rapidly scaled the company from a tiny startup into a $1.1 billion unicorn in less than two years, securing massive funding from Andreessen Horowitz.

    Source
  2. Piotr Dabkowski2022–present

    Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

    As Co-Founder and CTO, he leveraged his previous experience as a Google machine learning engineer to build the absolute most realistic AI voice generator on the market.

    Source
ElevenLabs CEO history in full

Perplexity AI

  1. Aravind Srinivas

    Executive leadership, business strategy, fundraising, and industry partnerships.

  2. Denis Yarats

    Directs engineering infrastructure, AI model serving, and real-time retrieval search algorithms.

Perplexity AI CEO history in full

Timeline: ElevenLabs and Perplexity AI side by side

  1. 2022ElevenLabs

    ElevenLabs founded

    Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski start the company to build expressive AI voice and dubbing.

  2. 2022Perplexity AI

    Founding and Initial Prototype Development

    Perplexity AI, Inc. is established in San Francisco, initiating foundational development of its core platform architecture.

  3. 2023ElevenLabs

    Public beta and $19M Series A

    Beta launches in January; Series A co-led by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross and Andreessen Horowitz follows in June.

  4. 2023Perplexity AI

    Commercial Product Debut and Initial Seed Customers

    Launches first production-grade solution, onboarding early corporate design partners.

  5. 2024ElevenLabs

    $80M Series B at $1.1B valuation

    January 2024 round makes ElevenLabs a unicorn; the company later launches its Conversational AI agent platform and Reader app.

  6. 2024Perplexity AI

    First Major Institutional Funding Round

    Secures venture capital financing from prominent technology investors to scale engineering teams.

  7. 2024Perplexity AI

    Crosses Landmark Customer Milestone

    Reaches thousands of active corporate enterprise accounts worldwide with high operational uptime.

  8. 2025ElevenLabs

    $180M Series C at $3.3B; ARR passes $330M

    January 2025 round co-led by a16z and ICONIQ; Eleven v3 and Eleven Music launch during the year.

  9. 2025Perplexity AI

    Launch of Dedicated Enterprise Suite

    Introduces specialized enterprise capabilities tailored to large organizations with strict compliance demands.

  10. 2025Perplexity AI

    Operational Scale and Record Commercial Performance

    Perplexity AI, Inc. delivers record operational performance, generating $0.08 billion in net revenues.

  11. 2026ElevenLabs

    $500M Series D at $11B

    Sequoia Capital leads the February 2026 round; ARR passes $500 million in April.

  12. 2026ElevenLabs

    $300M employee tender at $22B

    September 30, 2026 tender co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price doubles the Series D valuation.

  13. 2026Perplexity AI

    International Expansion into European Markets

    Establishes regional European operations and deploys local compliance-ready server infrastructure.

  14. 2027Perplexity AI

    Strategic Technology Acquisition

    Acquires specialized software technology assets to integrate advanced automation into the core platform.

  15. 2028Perplexity AI

    Release of Automated Analytics & Intelligence Engine

    Unveils predictive analytics modules enabling real-time telemetry and workflow optimization.

  16. 2029Perplexity AI

    Major Enterprise Ecosystem Partner Alliances

    Forms global co-selling alliances with leading system integrators and technology consulting firms.

Acquisitions

ElevenLabs

  • Omnivore2024Undisclosed
  • Speechify Commercial Voice Licensing Deals2024$22M
  • Omnivore Reading Application Assets2023$14M
All ElevenLabs acquisitions

Perplexity AI

  • Academic Citation Parsing Technology2024$22M
  • Publisher Revenue-Sharing Network Infrastructure2024$25M
  • Specialized Web Crawling & Indexing Assets2023$15M
All Perplexity AI acquisitions

Questions about ElevenLabs vs Perplexity AI

Who is the CEO of ElevenLabs and Perplexity AI, Inc.?

ElevenLabs is led by Mati Staniszewski and Perplexity AI, Inc. is led by Aravind Srinivas. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.

When was ElevenLabs founded vs Perplexity AI, Inc.?

Both ElevenLabs and Perplexity AI, Inc. were founded in 2022, making them the same age.

How many employees does ElevenLabs have compared to Perplexity AI, Inc.?

ElevenLabs employs approximately 800 people, while Perplexity AI, Inc. employs approximately 220. ElevenLabs has the larger workforce at 800 employees, compared to Perplexity AI, Inc.'s 220. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).

Where are ElevenLabs and Perplexity AI, Inc. headquartered?

Both ElevenLabs and Perplexity AI, Inc. are headquartered in United States. Their local rules and tax obligations may still differ.

Who founded ElevenLabs and Perplexity AI, Inc.?

ElevenLabs was founded by Mati Staniszewski, Piotr Dabkowski. Perplexity AI, Inc. was founded by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats.

Which company has a longer operating history — ElevenLabs or Perplexity AI, Inc.?

ElevenLabs has been operating for approximately 4 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Perplexity AI, Inc. has been in operation for around 4 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.

Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the ElevenLabs vs Perplexity AI overview

Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.