Startup that clones voices with AI is valued at US$ 1 billion – 01/23/2024 – Tech

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Another AI startup becomes a ‘unicorn’

ElevenLabs, a startup that uses AI (artificial intelligence) to create and reproduce people’s voices, announced on Monday that it had received an investment of US$80 million, which valued it at US$ 1 billion (reaching the unicorn level, in market jargon).

The startup has already been criticized for its tool being used to create deepfake videos and audios.

The investment involved large sector managers, such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, and represents a tenfold increase in the startup’s value compared to June last year, when it was valued at US$100 million.

ElevenLabs: Founded in 2022, the startup launched a trial version of its tool about a year ago.

↳ It offers a free version in which the user sends the text and receives, in seconds, a recording read by one of the standard voices available on the platform.

↳ In the paid mode, the subscriber inserts voice samples, which are used to narrate the text the user wants. The platform also offers options for adjusting intonation, emotion and reading pace.

The startup’s bet is on the dubbing market and audiobooks. Its tool is also used to create voices for game characters and in advertising campaigns.

• Among its clients are game producers and media and entertainment companies.

Yes but… The ElevenLabs tool has also been used to create fake videos that try to trick users by simulating celebrities’ voices.

• In one case, users on the 4chan forum organized to create a fake version of actress Emma Watson reading an anti-Semitic speech.

ElevenLabs states which seeks to identify users who repeatedly violate its terms of service and has launched a tool to detect speech created by its platform.

On the American website Tech Cruch, one of the founders says that the startup plans to make this tool available to “distribution players”.

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Lula’s industrial plan worries the market

On a day when American stock indices renewed their highs, the Brazilian Stock Exchange fell 0.81%to 126,602 points, and the dollar accelerated 1.20% against the real, to R$ 4.98.

The main culprit, according to market agents: the Lula (PT) government’s R$300 billion plan to boost the country’s industry over the next ten years.

Understand: the government’s new industrial policy provides goals, guidelines and measures for the next decade, as anticipated by Sheet. It places public power as an inducer of development.

According to the government, the R$300 billion will be divided as follows:

• R$271 billion will come from financing;

• R$21 billion of “non-refundable” credits;

• R$8 billion will be spent by BNDES to buy shares in companies, reissuing a policy of other PT administrations that became the target of criticism from economists.

Why did it do badly on the market? Agents expressed concerns about the fiscal impact of the measures and their possible inflationary effect, which could harm the cycle of falling interest rates already started by the Central Bank.

Researcher Sérgio Lazzarini, author of two books on relations between State and companies in PT governments, tells Sheet that “we are seeing things that have already been done and didn’t work out”.

In announcing the plan, President Lula and other top-ranking members of the government defended the role of public authorities in developing and stimulating industry, in particular to boost exports by Brazilian companies.

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The return of IPOs?

The improvement in market conditions here and abroad motivates investment banks to resume talks about IPO (initial share offering).

• The agents’ expectation is that a Brazilian company could debut on the stock exchange in the first half of this year, and bets on the number of operations vary between three and 20 in the year.

• The last Brazilian company to IPO was Nubank, which rang the New York Stock Exchange bell in December 2021.

What can help with the return of IPOs: the maintenance of the Selic falling cycle, which once again makes variable income more attractive, and the good moment in the markets here and abroad.

Unlike abroad, however, the Brazilian Stock Exchange is experiencing a slowdown compared to last year, when it rose 22%. This year, the Ibovespa falls 5.65% and could be an obstacle to offers.

Sectors in focus: analysts point to sanitation and energy companies as the favorites to debut on the Stock Exchange in the coming months.

• Among the names mentioned are Oceânica Engenharia – which announced its interest in the IPO to the market –, CBO (Companhia Brasileira de Offshore), in logistics, and CTG (China Three Gorges), in energy.

The characteristics of these companies, known for their strong cash generation, are very different from the companies whose shares made their debut in 2021.

• At the time, with interest rates still at low levels around the world, new companies that were more focused on the domestic market, such as retailers and technology, dominated the offers.

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Many CVs, few vacancies

Less than 1% of applications for a job vacancy end up being hired on the Gupy recruitment platform, according to data from the company itself.

The scenario generated a flood of frustrated reports about the difficulty of getting a job on the internet.

In numbers:

• 15 million registrations are made by 1.5 million people every month on the platform.

• 100 thousand Monthly hirings were made until the end of last year.

• Three Complaints are published on LinkedIn for every thousand registered people, says Gupy.

How the platform defends itself and tries to reverse this: she says that there are subjective criteria in analysis, which makes an objective return difficult.

The company announced 24 commitments divided into three pillars: enabling simple applications, supporting responsible selections in companies and boosting information and knowledge among candidates.

Candidates should also pay attention to the prerequisites of the vacancy and insert a resume that is related to these items.

The first screening at Gupy is done using artificial intelligence, which assesses the candidate’s affinity with the vacancy, with a score from 0 to 100.

In 2022, the platform purchased competitor Kenoby and is now the most accessed recruitment website in Brazil, according to Comscore.