Native Instruments and iZotope Announce Parent Company and Platform Soundwide

Following the announcement in March 2021 that iZotope, the Boston-based audio processing software experts, and Native Instruments, the German music creation company would form a new technology group backed by investors Francisco Partners and EMH Partners, the group now announced a new entity called Soundwide. The new company will promote a complete "audio and music creation ecosystem," will not replace any of the brands and also includes Plugin Alliance, Brainworx, and Sound Stacks as software development and distribution arms.

Native Instruments, EMH Partners, and Francisco Partners announced an agreement where the Berlin-based music creation company will sell the majority of its shares to leading technology-specialized investment firm, Francisco Partners. Both EMH Partners and the founding shareholders will remain involved with NI as significant minority shareholders. The agreement was described as necessary to support a new expansion strategy for Native Instruments.