European data center firm Global Technical Realty (GTR) has secured new equity investment.

Investment firm KKR this week announced it was investing an additional $1.5 billion equity commitment to GTR, with Oak Hill Capital joining as an investor in the company and committing approximately $400 million.

The new investment will “support GTR’s substantial development pipeline, including additional greenfield capacity and new market entries across Europe," though details weren't shared.

“As rapid cloud growth continues and scaled AI demand begins to materialize, the need for high-quality, power-efficient, and scalable data center infrastructure in Europe has never been greater,” said Andrew Peisch, partner at KKR. “GTR has established itself as one of Europe’s most capable developers of next-generation facilities, and we are thrilled to deepen our commitment to the platform while expanding our long-standing relationship with Oak Hill.”

KKR first announced it was committing $1bn to set up a new hyperscale data center player in Europe in May 2020. KKR is funding its latest investment primarily from its Global Infrastructure Strategy.

“We are pleased to invest in GTR and collaborate with KKR to support a platform that sits at the intersection of cloud, AI, and critical infrastructure,” said Adam Hahn, partner at Oak Hill. “GTR has built a differentiated platform with a strong management team, and we look forward to supporting the company as it continues to scale to meet the growing digital infrastructure needs across Europe.”

As well as two sites in London, GTR is also developing data centers in Petah Tikva, Israel; Barcelona, Spain; and Zurich, Switzerland.

Franek Sodzawiczny, CEO and founder of GTR, added: “This investment marks a major inflection point for GTR. Demand from hyperscale and AI-driven customers across Europe continues to accelerate, and this capital enables us to scale our team, deepen our operating capabilities, and move faster into new markets. KKR has been an exceptional strategic partner since our inception, and their renewed commitment positions us to execute against a substantial development pipeline. We are also delighted to welcome Oak Hill, whose deep experience in digital infrastructure and telecommunications will be invaluable as we scale the platform for its next phase of growth.”

GTR founder Sodzawiczny previously founded two British data center colocation providers: Sentrum, which was sold to Digital Realty for around $1bn in 2012, and Zenium, which was sold to CyrusOne for $442m in 2017.

KKR said it has committed approximately $34bn of equity into digital infrastructure across 24 investments, alongside more than $20bn in power and renewables. KKR’s portfolio includes five data center platforms across the US, APAC, and EMEA, totaling more than 155 facilities and a 12GW development pipeline.

Oak Hill and its predecessors have made some 30 investments to date into the digital space. The investment in GTR marks the firm’s fourth platform investment in the data center sector.