PixVerse raises $439M, valuation tops $2B

Microsoft launched a speech-generating AI tool on Thursday that the company claims offers lower costs and higher accuracy than competitors including ElevenLabs, SpaceXAI, and Google. The technology is designed to power features within Microsoft's ecosystem, such as transcription capabilities in Teams. The move represents Microsoft's direct entry into the competitive voice AI market where specialized startups have gained traction.

AI voice startup ElevenLabs has doubled its valuation to $22 billion through a $300 million employee tender offer co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price. The funding round reflects investor confidence in the text-to-speech and voice AI market. The tender allows existing employees to liquidate shares at a significantly higher valuation than previous rounds.

ElevenLabs, an AI voice technology company reportedly valued at $22 billion, is powering customer service calls across businesses. The company's CEO discussed the ethics and timing of disclosing to customers when they are interacting with AI rather than humans, suggesting transparency may be necessary until AI interactions become normalized.

Google DeepMind has launched Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar, adding real-time video generation and animated avatars to its conversational AI model. The feature enables enterprises to deploy virtual agents with synchronized speech, facial expressions, and lip-syncing across 97 languages. The capability is now available in Gemini Enterprise and supports both preset and custom-branded avatars.