ElevenLabs has announced its new investors including BlackRock, Jamie Foxx

May 5, 2026
3 min read

ElevenLabs welcomes BlackRock, Wellington, NVIDIA, and Jamie Foxx in its Series D funding round.
The voice AI startup crossed $500 million in annual recurring revenue during early 2026.
Enterprise AI agents now power customer support, sales, and marketing operations for major corporations.
Conversational AI platform expansion brings retail investors access through Robinhood Ventures for the first time.

ElevenLabs has announced its new investors after closing a $500 million Series D funding round. The voice AI startup welcomes BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, and Schroders as institutional backers. Enterprise giants like NVIDIA and Santander joined the round through their corporate strategic venture arms. Hollywood stars Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria, and Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk also added their names. For readers tracking AI investments, this round signals strong confidence in conversational AI platform growth.

Institutional backing reaches a new high

BlackRock and Wellington bring deep capital expertise to a fast-growing voice AI startup ecosystem. The company ended 2025 with $350 million in annual recurring revenue from enterprise clients. By April 2026, ElevenLabs had surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue across its product lines. Rob Mazzoni from Wellington Management said voice AI will become foundational for global business communication. His firm sees ElevenLabs leading the category as enterprises adopt human-like AI agents at scale.

Many enterprise clients now back the company financially through their corporate strategic investment arms. NVIDIA, Salesforce, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom rely on the platform for customer interactions daily. ElevenLabs has announced its new investors right after expanding deals with these enterprise customers. Deutsche Telekom uses the platform to power support agents and produce marketing videos for customers. The German telecom giant invested through T.Capital, its strategic investment arm, during the latest round. Karine Peters from T. Capital said voice carries the highest stakes in any customer interaction channel.

Why has ElevenLabs announced its new investors at this moment

You see strong momentum because enterprises now deploy enterprise AI agents across multiple business functions. Customer support, sales, hiring, and marketing operations all benefit from AI voice technology platforms. From my standpoint, this third Series D close shows institutional belief in conversational AI economics. The voice AI startup grew from $350 million ARR to over $500 million in four months. Such rapid growth attracts capital because enterprise contracts produce stable recurring income for the platform.

ElevenLabs has announced its new investors alongside a fresh push into retail and creative communities. Eva Longoria, an actor and producer, joined the round as part of a creative talent group. More than 30 actors, musicians, athletes, and entertainment executives invested for the first time. Longoria said her investment reflects support for a company building tools with creatives in mind. Matthew McConaughey, an existing investor, keeps backing the AI voice technology platform with new capital.

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What comes next for the voice AI startup

Robinhood Ventures opens retail access for everyday users to own a stake in the company. ElevenLabs has announced its new investors at a time when enterprise AI agents shape business communication. Your business benefits when AI sounds natural across phone calls, video content, and chat windows. The platform now serves 530 employees across more than 50 countries around the world. Mati Staniszewski, the co-founder, said systems sounding robotic will not gain widespread customer trust. Funding will support new tools combining image, video, and audio generation for marketing teams. Plans include voice agents handling email, chat, and live calls across many client industries. Your decision to back conversational AI platforms now will pay off as adoption grows. The company builds toward natural human-like communication for every business audience worldwide each day.

Cross-emirate parking payments move closer as Q Mobility and Parkin link up

Cross-emirate parking payments could soon live inside one digital account for drivers who move between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Q Mobility and Parkin have signed an agreement to connect their systems, and the aim is plain. You pay for a spot in either city without switching apps or opening a second wallet.

Picture the commuter who parks near a Dubai office all week, then drives to the capital for the weekend. That person now juggles two separate systems. The plan would fold both into a single flow.

Cross-emirate parking payments in one account

The Q Mobility Parkin agreement covers linked digital platforms, shared pilot projects and a single route to paying for parking. Both firms run the biggest public parking networks in their emirates. Parkin operates Dubai’s official platform across more than 200,000 spaces. Q Mobility manages Mawaqif Abu Dhabi and the Darb road toll system.

Neither company gave a start date. Work will begin through a joint roadmap and pilot projects. So nothing shifts for you today. Keep using your current app. Residents and visitors would eventually pay through one connected set of digital channels once the platforms talk to each other. The operators say they will test how their existing systems can support shared access while keeping payments secure.

What the AI pilots will do

Smart parking UAE plans here lean hard on data. The two firms will build pilots around data analytics, artificial intelligence and better parking management tools. These pilots will look at how full car parks get, how demand shifts across the day, and how well the service runs.

Here is the practical payoff. Sharper demand planning means a system that can steer you to an open bay faster, using patterns pulled from real use. Both operators also want to squeeze more capacity from car parks they already have, rather than pour concrete for new ones. Parkin already runs a wide digital payment base across Dubai. Through the Darb app, Q Mobility handles tolling and Mawaqif parking together in Abu Dhabi. The pilots will check how each operator’s technology performs across connected systems before any broad rollout.

Data sharing under UAE rules

Cross-emirate parking payments depend on the two operators trading technical know-how and operational data. UAE regulations and data protection requirements will govern every exchange. The companies will also set governance rules for connected services and hunt for ways to use current assets more effectively.

Data integration will support demand forecasting and occupancy measurement across both service areas. Each side will decide which datasets and technical links belong to individual pilots. So far, the operators have not published the design that would join their platforms.

What the CEOs said

Mohamed Husain Karmastaji, CEO of Q Mobility, called the collaboration a route toward more connected mobility across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He named customer convenience and closer ties between the two operators as central goals. Mohamed Abdulla Al Ali, CEO of Parkin, described the agreement as a significant development for the UAE parking sector. He pointed to the scale created by bringing the two largest public parking operators into one technology programme.

For now, cross-emirate parking payments remain a plan on paper. Parkin Dubai and Q Mobility will move through technology assessments, joint pilots and platform integration before anything reaches your phone. Motorists keep using existing arrangements while the work runs. No date has been announced for unified digital access, so watch for pilot news rather than a switch flipping overnight.

By Amira Khalil
3 min read

Shamsa Entertainment City opens in Aljada with family fun until September

Shamsa Entertainment City has opened its doors in Aljada, and it gives families a fresh reason to head out this summer. The open-air venue runs until 5 September under the theme “Shamsa Festival, Where Joy Shines”. It sits inside Sharjah Summer Promotions 2026, the emirate’s yearly push to bring shoppers and visitors out during the warmer months.

The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority organise the venue together. Their pitch is simple. Give families interactive activities and outdoor entertainment, and lift the local economy at the same time.

What Shamsa Entertainment City offers

Picture a summer hub built for kids and parents. Interactive games and open-air fun fill the space in Aljada Sharjah, one of the emirate’s newer community districts. The layout leans on hands-on play rather than passive screens, which keeps younger visitors moving. That setting matters. Aljada already pulls crowds for dining and events, so the venue lands where people already are.

You do not have to travel far to reach it. That is the whole idea. Organisers want a spot that feels close, easy, and worth the trip on a hot afternoon.

Inside Sharjah Summer Promotions 2026

Shamsa Entertainment City is one piece of a much larger campaign. Sharjah Summer Promotions 2026 reaches across Sharjah City, the Central Region, and the East Coast towns of Khorfakkan, Kalba, and Dibba Al Hisn. Shoppers can find discounts of up to 75 percent across thousands of retail outlets and shopping malls.

The season offers more than shopping. Families also get over 60 Sharjah tourism packages and experiences, plus more than 700 prizes for visitors. Over 55 public and private partners back the programme, which shows how much weight the emirate puts behind it.

Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Chairman of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, said the campaign aimed to strengthen Sharjah’s position as a tourism and family destination. He described a summer atmosphere that brings together entertainment, creativity, and community engagement for citizens, residents, and tourists.

Why the venue matters now

Mohammad Ahmed Amin Al Awadi, Director-General of SCCI, said the launch reflected the chamber’s work to support economic activity and community well-being. Read between the lines, and the plan is clear. Entertainment brings families in. Families spend. Retail and tourism both gain.

Sharjah has run this play before. The 2025 edition drew strong turnout and gave local businesses a measurable lift. This year’s version stretches the summer season longer and adds more partners, so the emirate is building on something that already works. The model rewards repeat visits, and that is where the real value sits for organisers.

For families weighing where to spend a summer day, the appeal is practical. You get activities for the kids, deals for the household, and a short drive rather than a long one. That mix turns a one-time visit into a habit, and it positions Sharjah as a family destination worth returning to.

Shamsa Entertainment City runs through early September, which leaves plenty of weekends to plan around. If you live in or near the emirate, the calendar is on your side. The venue and the wider campaign both wind down before the school term picks up, so the window is open now.

By Tariq Al-Mansouri
3 min read

Business Licenses

UAE music licence for businesses starts in December with new annual fees

A UAE music licence for businesses will soon shape the cost of playing a song in public. From December 2026, restaurants, cafes, hotels, malls, gyms and airlines that play music must hold one. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism set out the rules in a new guide on music rights. The guide covers a wide list of venues. Radio stations, TV channels, concerts and similar events fall under it too. Each licence lasts one year and can be renewed. Fee brackets depend on how the music is used and how big the business is.

Who collects the UAE music licensing fees?

Two Ministry-approved bodies will handle the UAE music licence for businesses. The Emirates Music Rights Association and Music Nation UAE act for the rights holders. That pool includes composers, singers, record producers and publishers. They will issue the permits and take in the money.

The Ministry did not publish exact fee amounts. What it did confirm is the shape of the fees. Live music and DJ sets tend to cost more. Smaller venues with background music should pay less. Not every place has to pay. Schools and academic bodies are exempt. Government offices, national events and private, non-commercial parties also sit outside the rules. The Ministry can add more exempt groups later.

Why the UAE music licence for businesses matters now

Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism, tied the move to the wider economy. He said the UAE backs its music and creative sectors as it works to widen its income. The minister called the guide one step toward a full system for copyright and related rights. It fits the goals of UAE Vision 2031.

Here is the practical read. The commercial use of music UAE venues rely on is now a paid, tracked activity. Pressing play on a home streaming app and hoping no one asks carries real risk. If you run a venue, this is your cue to check your setup. The framework rests on the UAE copyright law. Back in 2021, the country reshaped that law with fresh rules on copyright and neighbouring rights. Those rules created public performance rights across the country. Now the guide gives them a way to be enforced and paid.

The guide also sets up a Cultural Support Fund in the Field of Music. It will give money, technical help and artistic support for writing, production and live shows. Support targets new talent, including children, youth and people of determination. The fund will also carry Emirati music abroad. Ten per cent of all fees collected will feed this fund. A joint team from the Ministry of Economy and Tourism and the Ministry of Culture will run it. The collecting bodies must keep a separate bank account for the fund’s share.

Oversight and disputes

The Ministry will watch the licensed bodies for compliance with the UAE copyright law. Checks include field visits and reviews of financial and technical records. Complaints from rights holders will be handled too, with calm settlements sought or action taken where needed.

One line stands out. The Ministry keeps the right to change licence terms when the rules or public interest call for it, and licensees must comply at once. For venues, the UAE music licence for businesses is now a fixed cost of running a room with a soundtrack. My read: firms that move early will feel the least pain.

By Fatima Al-Nouri
3 min read

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ElevenLabs has announced its new investors including BlackRock, Jamie Foxx

ElevenLabs has announced its new investors including BlackRock, Jamie Foxx

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Institutional backing reaches a new high