Born in 1962, industry veteran Mats Karlsson, passed away on October 7, 2026, as announced by the Swedish company StageSmarts:
"It is with great sadness that we share that our co-founder, colleague and friend Mats Karlsson passed away this week after a battle with cancer. Mats spent more than four decades in the entertainment technology industry, always driven by curiosity, technical excellence and a desire to challenge the status quo. That mindset was at the heart of StageSmarts from the very beginning. Mats believed in questioning accepted solutions, making decisions quickly when the path was clear, and building things properly.
Over the last year and a half, Mats continued to contribute to StageSmarts, sharing his experience, perspective and ideas with the team.
His influence on StageSmarts — and on the wider entertainment technology industry — will remain with us for many years to come.
We will miss his knowledge, his drive, his directness and, most of all, Mats himself. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and everyone who had the privilege of knowing and working with him."
Before co-founding StageSmarts in 2015 with Erik Davidson, Karlsson had worked for BARCO, Martin, VER, AC Entertainment Technologies, and Intendor, making his mark at each company. StageSmarts was founded from the premise: No power, no show.
"That's why I co-founded StageSmarts back in 2015. I had then spent 30+ years working on shows, developing products and had seen that there was a big gap that needed filling," noted Karlsson at the time.
"We have brought power distribution into the 21st century by re-thinking and innovation. Entertainment is big business and uses a lot of very sophisticated and sensistive equipment that easily gets damaged in case of electrical mishaps. StageSmarts provides the systems that provides the power, protects people as well as equipment and monitors and logs all the electrical parameters in real time, down to individual channels.
There's really nothing else like it.
Our first systems debuted on tours by Depeche Mode and Radiohead back in 2017 and we've since been chosen by wise and safety-minded customers in more than 40 countries across the world."
"That's why I co-founded StageSmarts back in 2015. I had then spent 30+ years working on shows, developing products and had seen that there was a big gap that needed filling," noted Karlsson at the time.
"We have brought power distribution into the 21st century by re-thinking and innovation. Entertainment is big business and uses a lot of very sophisticated and sensistive equipment that easily gets damaged in case of electrical mishaps. StageSmarts provides the systems that provides the power, protects people as well as equipment and monitors and logs all the electrical parameters in real time, down to individual channels.
There's really nothing else like it.
Our first systems debuted on tours by Depeche Mode and Radiohead back in 2017 and we've since been chosen by wise and safety-minded customers in more than 40 countries across the world."