Sara Börsvik to take on expanded COO/CFO role as part of new leadership structure.
Stockholm, Sweden, September 23, 2026 – Epidemic Group today announced that Erik Wahlberg, CEO and Founder of Blenda Labs, will become Chief Executive Officer of Epidemic Group, with Sara Börsvik moving from interim CEO to take on the joint role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, effective October 1, 2026.
Wahlberg founded Blenda Labs, the Stockholm-based video production technology company Epidemic Group acquired in July 2026, whose AI-native production system already partners with premium IP owners including CoStudios and Storytel. It is the latest chapter in a career spent building at the intersection of creative technology and the creator economy: before Blenda, Wahlberg spent seven years as co-founder and CEO of Frever, a mobile 3D video creation app backed by investors including EQT Ventures and Sony Music, and earlier served as Chief Creative Officer and Nordic CEO of MTG Studios at Modern Times Group, following its acquisition of Baluba, where he had been CEO, alongside leadership roles at Jarowskij and Strix Television.
Börsvik has led Epidemic Group as interim CEO since March 2026, a period in which the Group returned to profitable growth in H1 2026 following a deliberate investment year in 2025.
Under Wahlberg's leadership, the Group is also expanding Börsvik's role, combining his product and strategic leadership with her operational and financial discipline. The new structure reflects the Group's evolution into a single, unified platform for reimagining storytelling, bringing together Epidemic Sound's soundtracking business, Blenda Labs' video production technology, Soundly's sound effects platform, Plenty Labs' creative tools, and Overtone's wellness music under one shared ambition. Epidemic Sound's music alone accounts for over 3.5 billion daily views across platforms and is used by 70 percent of the top 300 US YouTube channels.
Hjalmar Winbladh, Chair of Epidemic Group, commented: "This is a leadership structure built for what Epidemic Group is becoming. In Erik, we have exactly the kind of AI-native, creator-first leader to take this business further, someone who has already built the production system that our broader storytelling ambition, including video, needs. Sara's operating discipline has been central to getting us here, and now gives Erik a strong foundation to build from."
Erik Wahlberg, incoming CEO of Epidemic Group, said: "Millions of creators and the world's biggest brands trust Epidemic. I've spent my career where creativity and technology meet, and as AI rewrites how stories get made, putting new possibilities in the hands of human creators, there's nowhere I'd rather be. And no one I'd rather do it with than Sara and this team."
Sara Börsvik, incoming COO and CFO of Epidemic Group, commented: "Stepping into this role is a natural next chapter for me within Epidemic Group. Over the past months, we've embraced AI to unlock new creative possibilities and brought the business back to profitable growth, with momentum accelerating into the second half of the year. As COO, I get to build on that across an even bigger canvas, working alongside Erik and this incredible team as we reimagine storytelling."
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About Epidemic Group:
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Stockholm, Epidemic Group is a global creative platform on a mission to reimagine storytelling through music, sound, video, and AI. The group comprises Epidemic Sound, the world's leading soundtracking platform; Soundly, its sound effects platform; Overtone Studios, the group's mood and functional music label; Soundproof, an enterprise music-licensing audit service; Plenty Labs, an AI-native creative platform; and Blenda Labs, a next generation video entertainment company. The group is backed by EQT, Blackstone, Creandum, Atwater Capital, Alecta, AMF, and IMAS Foundation.
