EQT Private Equity broadens investor base in Epidemic Sound – brings in AMF, Alecta and TIN

• EQT Private Equity brings in blue chip investors Alecta, AMF and TIN in a minority sale in Epidemic Sound
   
• The new partners broaden Epidemic Sound’s investor base and add additional resources to support its long-term growth

• EQT remains as largest owner of Epidemic Sound and continues to back its mission to soundtrack the internet
   

EQT is pleased to announce that the EQT Mid Market Europe fund (“EQT Private Equity”) brings in Swedish blue chip pension funds Alecta and AMF and fund management company TIN through a minority sale in Epidemic Sound (“Epidemic” or “the Company”), the market leading platform for restriction-free music.

Today’s announcement comes just two weeks after the news that EQT Growth and Blackstone Growth jointly have invested USD 450 million in the Company. The welcoming of AMF, Alecta and TIN now concludes Epidemic Sound’s total funding round of approximately USD 540 million at a USD 1.4 billion valuation.

Epidemic Sound's mission to soundtrack the internet by providing content creators and online storytellers with restriction-free music is not something that happens overnight, but the Company is taking incremental steps in that direction. Today, Epidemic’s music is played for over one billion hours on average per month on YouTube alone – a 400 percent increase since July 2019. AMF, Alecta and TIN all share Epidemic’s long-term mindset and bringing them in as partners broadens the investor base and adds additional resources to support continuous growth.

After having acquired a 40 percent stake in Epidemic Sound in 2017, EQT Private Equity has over the past years invested heavily in growing the Company’s online reach and distribution capabilities. EQT has also supported the transition of Epidemic’s physical sales operations to a digital and highly scalable sales channels offering. Furthermore, over the past few years, the Company’s organizational backbone has been significantly improved while revenues have increased by more than five times.

Following today’s announcement, EQT Private Equity and a group of minority shareholders are partially selling stakes, but EQT remains as the largest owner in Epidemic Sound as a testimony to its belief for long-term value creation and strong growth potential.

Victor Englesson, Partner and Investment Advisor at EQT Partners, commented, “Epidemic Sound is a Swedish success story and the company is the most recent unicorn coming out of our country. CEO Oscar Höglund and his team have built Epidemic by combining two of Sweden’s most well known export commodities – music and technology, and EQT is proud to continue supporting their global growth journey. We are also excited to welcome blue-chip investors AMF, Alecta and TIN as new partners. In their capacity as managers of Swedish pension capital, they all share our mindset of long-term and responsible ownership.”

Oscar Höglund, Co-founder and CEO of Epidemic Sound, commented, “I’m delighted to welcome our new investors on board to help us accelerate our mission to soundtrack this generation’s greatest achievement: the internet. Together with our investors and our creative communities, we’re excited to continue supercharging two things that have become synonymous with Sweden: music and technology.”

The transaction closed on 22 March 2021.

Contact
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 84 billion in raised capital and currently more than 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 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 and its Chairperson is Vania Schlogel, Managing Partner & Founder at Atwater Capital.

More info: www.epidemicsound.com

Tags: