Epidemic Sound, the company soundtracking the Internet, closes a $450million round at a $1.4billion valuation

• Epidemic Sound closes a $450million round at a $1.4billion valuation teaming up with EQT Growth and Blackstone Growth “BXG”
• As global demand for restriction-free music continues to explode, the funds will be used to further accelerate the platform’s customer acquisition and invest even more aggressively in its core user experience
• The raise will also fuel international expansion in both existing territories and new markets to develop and localize the company’s digital offerings, continue investment in music, and unlock wider market potential

Stockholm, Sweden – Epidemic Sound, the market leading platform for restriction-free music, welcomes funds managed by Blackstone Growth “BXG” and EQT Growth in a capital raise of $450million that will see the company accelerate its efforts to soundtrack the internet.

The investment in Epidemic Sound, who are solving for one of the biggest pain points in global content creation (allowing for anyone to soundtrack anything, anywhere), comes off the back of a year in which more content than ever before was created and consumed. With the backdrop of growth across all content verticals, as well as an accelerated shift to digital and a specific shift to video, the raise will see the company continue to invest aggressively in the core user experience it offers its growing network of customers.

“We’re in the privileged position where our music is the soundtrack to our generation’s greatest achievement. We know what the internet sounds like and through data, we can see the trends emerging among content creators as they use our tracks to bring their stories to life,” comments Epidemic Sound co-founder and CEO, Oscar Höglund.

“We’re thrilled to partner with EQT Growth and BXG to continue scaling how we use this data to grow our global network of creators and empower them all to thrive through new products, new music and new insights.”

The raise will also fuel international expansion to reach new creators in both existing territories like North America, whilst also expanding and localizing its digital offering and investing in music for new markets across the world.

Jan Zachrisson, Epidemic Sound co-founder, adds: “The idea back in 2009 and the idea today are one and the same; we want to allow for anyone, anywhere in the world to get the music they need to soundtrack their story. We’re delighted to welcome our new partners on board as we take this to the next level and enter the next stage of our growth journey with our community of music creators and storytellers.”

Jon Korngold, Global Head of Blackstone Growth, says: “Epidemic Sound is a leading provider of restriction-free music and offers an essential resource to the millions of corporations and individuals that are generating more video content for customers, families, and friends alike. The company has established an incredible platform from which to expand globally, and we are privileged to have the opportunity to partner with Oscar and the management team to help unlock Epidemic Sound’s full potential in the years to come.”

Vini Letteri, Senior Managing Director, Blackstone Growth said: “The creator economy has helped drive strong demand for music consumption that is restriction and hassle free across digital and social media. We are thrilled to partner with Epidemic Sound, a premier source for internet soundtracking, to contribute the network and resources of Blackstone as the company looks to accelerate growth and expand globally.”

Victor Englesson, Partner and Investment Advisor at EQT Partners, says: “Epidemic Sound taps into numerous thematic macro trends, such as the democratization of how user-generated content is produced and consumed digitally, largely driven by the increased prevalence of video communication in our society and the growing online creator economy. Epidemic Sound will continue to cement its market leading position with a unique value proposition to storytellers and EQT is proud to have supported CEO Oscar Höglund and his team over the past three years. As the company now enters its next phase of growth, EQT is happy to renew its commitment to Epidemic Sound and join forces with Blackstone Growth to continue empowering storytellers and content creators around the world with high-quality, restriction-free music.”

SEB Corporate Finance and Goldman Sachs have acted as financial advisers, and White & Case has acted as legal adviser.

About EQT

EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 84 billion in raised capital and over EUR 52 billion in assets under management across 17 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com

Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $619 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.

Further information is available at www.blackstone.com.

Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

About Epidemic Sound

Epidemic Sound, the market leading platform for restriction-free music, is headquartered in Stockholm, heard around the globe and on a mission to soundtrack the world. 

The company has democratized access to music for storytellers. Its innovative digital rights model paves the way for creators - everyone from YouTubers to small businesses to the world’s largest brands - to use restriction-free music to take their content to the next level, whilst simultaneously supporting the musicians it works with both financially and creatively. 

The company was co-founded in 2009 and has offices in six major cities across the globe: Stockholm, New York, Los Angeles, Seoul, Hamburg and Amsterdam. Epidemic is backed by EQT, Blackstone Growth, Creandum, Atwater Capital, Alecta. AMF, and TIN Fonder and its Chairperson is Andrew Fisher, former CEO and Chairman of Shazam.