Native Instruments CEO: “Business continues as usual” amidst pre-insolvency proceedings

Native Instruments CEO Nick Williams has issued a statement assuring users that “business continues as usual” after the company recently entered into pre-insolvency proceedings.

Writing in a blogpost on Native Instruments’ website, Williams said: “We are working diligently and responsibly to secure a healthy, financially sustainable future for Native Instruments. As you may have seen, Native Instruments GmbH has entered a restructuring process in Germany, as have three of our German non-operating holding companies. In legal terms, we have filed applications to open pre-insolvency proceedings for those companies.

“We are focused on providing continuity for creators, customers, and partners. We’ll continue to share updates as we have them. I’m a lifelong musician myself, and have been a passionate fan of Native Instruments for 25 years. Our mission to inspire and enable creators to express themselves through sound continues.”

Williams also noted that Native Instruments’ various affiliated companies in the Soudwide group  – such as iZotope, Plugin Alliance and Brainworx – are also operating as normal, and added that all Native Instruments hardware and software products remain on sale and available for download and activation.

He continued: “Our passionate and dedicated teams are here and supporting customers as normal. In product and engineering, we are continuing to develop and launch new products and features. Our NKS Partnerships team continues to process Kontakt Player licences and NKS Partner submissions.”

Insolvency documents uncovered earlier this week showed that Prof. Dr. Torsten Martini had been appointed as a preliminary insolvency administrator for the Berlin-based music company, which commonly means he will assume responsibility for restructuring the company and supervising any sale of existing assets.

Since 2021, NI has been majority-owned by US investment firm Francisco Partners. NI was later merged with three other companies – iZotope, Plugin Alliance and Brainworx – to create the Soundwide group in 2022. In 2023, Soundwide laid off 8% of its staff.

Native Instruments was founded in Berlin in 1999 and has since expanded its operation to set up offices in London, Paris, Los Angeles, Boston, Tokyo and Shenzhen.