Francisco Partners, a global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology and media businesses, announced its growth investment and funding of the combination of Hal Leonard, the sheet music publisher and music-learning provider, and Muse Group, an industry leader in music content and creation.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
Led by Larry Morton, Chairman, Hal Leonard operates an exclusively licensed, premium arrangements that include the world’s most iconic artists and scores from Taylor Swift and The Beatles to John Williams and Disney soundtracks. Combined with over 3 million expert and community-created tabs and compositions, 300 million annual visitors and over 40 million accounts on Muse Group’s Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore, the joint business now includes a content library of over 5.5 million scores, tabs, books, video courses, backing tracks, and presets.
Led by Eugeny Naidenov, CEO, Muse Group is an international team of music lovers and audio obsessives, empowering millions of creatives to play, produce and compose every day. The company began life in 1998 as Ultimate Guitar, a tab sharing site that grew into the world’s most popular online musician community. Muse Group now includes products such as MuseScore, Audacity, StaffPad and more.
The partnership of the two companies creates a leading global music learning content platform, solidifies its competitive position in the music creation industry, and allows for significant growth potential to lead content and education in both the traditional and digital form.
While Hal Leonard will join Muse Group, both companies will retain their respective headquarters in the U.S. and Cyprus, respectively, and distinct operational expertise. The combined company will apply Francisco Partners’ investment to accelerate organic and inorganic growth and is actively looking to partner with innovators in the sector.
FinSMEs
04/12/2023