ElevenLabs vs xAI: Founders, CEOs and History
ElevenLabs was founded in 2022 by Mati Staniszewski, Piotr Dabkowski and is led by Mati Staniszewski. xAI was founded in 2023 by Elon Musk and is led by Elon Musk.
Company facts
ElevenLabs
- Founded
- 2022
- Headquarters
- London, United Kingdom & New York City, New York, United States
- Current CEO
- Mati Staniszewski
- Employees
- 800
xAI
- Founded
- 2023
- Headquarters
- Burlingame, California, United States
- Current CEO
- Elon Musk
- Employees
- 450
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…
xAI
Elon Musk
Elon Musk founded xAI in March 2023 to develop advanced artificial intelligence systems focused on scientific discovery and understanding the universe. Musk previously co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before departing over governance and strategic divergences.
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
xAI
- Elon Musk
Executive leadership, strategic direction, and infrastructure architecture.
- Igor Babuschkin
Directs foundational model research, training loss optimization, and neural architecture.
Timeline: ElevenLabs and xAI side by side
2022ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs founded
Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski start the company to build expressive AI voice and dubbing.
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.
2023xAI
Incorporation of xAI in Nevada
Elon Musk files incorporation documents for X.AI Corp. in Nevada on March 9, 2023.
2023xAI
Official Public Launch and Mission Statement
xAI announces its team and mission on July 12, 2023: 'to understand the true nature of the universe'.
2023xAI
Release of Grok-1
xAI debuts its first conversational AI assistant, Grok-1, trained on an automated cluster of thousands of GPUs.
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.
2024xAI
Open-Sourcing of Grok-1 Base Weights
xAI releases the base code and network architecture of its 314-billion-parameter Grok-1 model under the Apache 2.0 license.
2024xAI
$6 Billion Series B Funding Round
xAI secures $6 billion in Series B funding from Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Sequoia Capital at a $24B post-money valuation.
2024xAI
Colossus Supercomputer Online in Memphis
xAI brings online the 100,000-GPU Colossus cluster in Memphis, Tennessee, constructed in just 122 days.
2024xAI
Commercial Launch of Grok-2 and Grok-Vision
xAI releases Grok-2, outperforming prominent frontier models in reasoning benchmarks, alongside enterprise developer APIs.
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.
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.
Acquisitions
ElevenLabs
- Omnivore2024Undisclosed
- Speechify Commercial Voice Licensing Deals2024$22M
- Omnivore Reading Application Assets2023$14M
xAI
- Memphis Colossus Datacenter Facility2024$350M
- Specialized AI Cluster Networking Assets2024$85M
- X Platform Real-Time Data Licensing Rights2023$150M
Questions about ElevenLabs vs xAI
Who is the CEO of ElevenLabs and xAI Corp.?
ElevenLabs is led by Mati Staniszewski and xAI Corp. is led by Elon Musk. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was ElevenLabs founded vs xAI Corp.?
ElevenLabs was founded in 2022 — 1 year before xAI Corp., which was founded in 2023. ElevenLabs's longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger xAI Corp..
How many employees does ElevenLabs have compared to xAI Corp.?
ElevenLabs employs approximately 800 people, while xAI Corp. employs approximately 450. ElevenLabs has the larger workforce at 800 employees, compared to xAI Corp.'s 450. 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 xAI Corp. headquartered?
Both ElevenLabs and xAI Corp. are headquartered in United States. Their local rules and tax obligations may still differ.
Who founded ElevenLabs and xAI Corp.?
ElevenLabs was founded by Mati Staniszewski, Piotr Dabkowski. xAI Corp. was founded by Elon Musk.
Which company has a longer operating history — ElevenLabs or xAI Corp.?
ElevenLabs has been operating for approximately 4 years, making it the more established of the two companies. xAI Corp. has been in operation for around 3 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 xAI overview