Epidemic Sound founder exits CEO role, CFO takes interim charge as EQT eyes listing

• Höglund co-founded Epidemic Sound and led it for 18 years, building it into one of Sweden's most valuable private tech companies
• CFO Sara Börsvik named interim CEO; no permanent replacement announced
• Private equity firm EQT is the largest shareholder and has long signaled a potential IPO
• Founder departures ahead of listings raise questions about whether the move clears the path to market or signals internal tension

Oscar Höglund, co-founder and CEO of Stockholm-based music licensing company Epidemic Sound, is leaving the top job after 18 years, Dagens Industri reports. CFO Sara Börsvik has been appointed interim CEO, while Höglund moves to a board seat. "I have decided that this is the right time to leave the day-to-day leadership," Höglund said in a statement — the kind of line that could mean anything from genuine readiness to a politely managed exit.

Epidemic Sound licenses production music to content creators, media companies, and brands worldwide, replacing the old model of per-track licensing with flat-rate subscriptions. The company has been valued in the billions of kronor, with private equity heavyweight EQT as its largest owner. EQT acquired a majority stake in 2021, and the firm has repeatedly been linked to IPO plans for Epidemic Sound — plans that have so far not materialised, partly due to unfavourable market conditions for tech listings in 2022 and 2023.

The timing of Höglund's departure invites two readings. The charitable one: EQT is preparing the company for public markets and wants a professional, non-founder CEO in place — someone who speaks the language of quarterly earnings calls and institutional investors. Founder-led companies often undergo this transition before listing; the founder steps aside, a seasoned operator steps in, and the IPO roadshow proceeds with fewer questions about key-person risk. The less charitable reading: something has shifted between Höglund and EQT on strategy, pace, or valuation expectations, and the founder's exit is the result rather than the cause of that friction. The fact that Börsvik's appointment is explicitly interim — no permanent successor has been named — suggests the search for a listing-ready CEO is either underway or contingent on the listing timeline itself.

For Stockholm's tech ecosystem, Epidemic Sound is one of a shrinking number of homegrown companies large enough to anchor a credible IPO on Nasdaq Stockholm. Sweden has produced globally significant tech firms — Spotify, Klarna, King — but the pattern has been either US listings or private-market sales to foreign buyers. Whether Epidemic Sound breaks that pattern or follows it will say something about whether Swedish capital markets can retain the companies Swedish engineers and entrepreneurs build.

Höglund built Epidemic Sound from a niche idea — subscription-based background music — into a platform used by millions of creators. He now joins the board, which is the traditional soft landing for founders whose companies have outgrown them, or who have outgrown their companies. The distinction matters less than what comes next: a Stockholm IPO, a New York listing, or a quiet sale to a media conglomerate. Börsvik, a finance chief suddenly running the show, will have limited time to demonstrate she is more than a placeholder.

Sources: Dagens Industri