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…
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.
CEOs and their tenures
ElevenLabs
- 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 - 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
Perplexity AI
- Aravind Srinivas
Executive leadership, business strategy, fundraising, and industry partnerships.
- Denis Yarats
Directs engineering infrastructure, AI model serving, and real-time retrieval search algorithms.
Timeline: ElevenLabs and Perplexity AI side by side
2022ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs founded
Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski start the company to build expressive AI voice and dubbing.
2022Perplexity AI
Founding and Initial Prototype Development
Perplexity AI, Inc. is established in San Francisco, initiating foundational development of its core platform architecture.
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.
2023Perplexity AI
Commercial Product Debut and Initial Seed Customers
Launches first production-grade solution, onboarding early corporate design partners.
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.
2024Perplexity AI
First Major Institutional Funding Round
Secures venture capital financing from prominent technology investors to scale engineering teams.
2024Perplexity AI
Crosses Landmark Customer Milestone
Reaches thousands of active corporate enterprise accounts worldwide with high operational uptime.
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.
2025Perplexity AI
Launch of Dedicated Enterprise Suite
Introduces specialized enterprise capabilities tailored to large organizations with strict compliance demands.
2025Perplexity AI
Operational Scale and Record Commercial Performance
Perplexity AI, Inc. delivers record operational performance, generating $0.08 billion in net revenues.
2026ElevenLabs
$500M Series D at $11B
Sequoia Capital leads the February 2026 round; ARR passes $500 million in April.
2026ElevenLabs
$300M employee tender at $22B
September 30, 2026 tender co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price doubles the Series D valuation.
2026Perplexity AI
International Expansion into European Markets
Establishes regional European operations and deploys local compliance-ready server infrastructure.
2027Perplexity AI
Strategic Technology Acquisition
Acquires specialized software technology assets to integrate advanced automation into the core platform.
2028Perplexity AI
Release of Automated Analytics & Intelligence Engine
Unveils predictive analytics modules enabling real-time telemetry and workflow optimization.
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
Perplexity AI
- Academic Citation Parsing Technology2024$22M
- Publisher Revenue-Sharing Network Infrastructure2024$25M
- Specialized Web Crawling & Indexing Assets2023$15M
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