Strategic Capital Fund Management has set up a new $1.5 billion data center investment platform called Strategic Datasphere, LLC.

The investment management firm said Datasphere will be focused on the acquisition, development, and management of data center facilities across the US and Europe, including through sale-leaseback transactions with ‘technology, communications, cloud, enterprise and public sector tenants.’

“Data centers are a critical component of the broader digital infrastructure ecosystem that is supporting an accelerated demand for online and mobile platforms for consumers and businesses alike,” said Jim Condon, managing partner at Strategic Capital, who added data centers as a real estate assets proved their resiliency as essential infrastructure throughout the Covid-19.

“We are excited to partner with a high-quality institutional investor who shares our vision for this dynamic asset class,” he said.

The new company will be led by Bryan Marsh, who previously served as vice president and portfolio manager at Digital Realty.

Datasphere received initial commitments of up to $500 million of equity capital which is expected to support more than $1.5 billion of data center investments.

“We are ecstatic to embark on our mission at Datasphere to serve as long-term stewards for the data center assets we acquire and develop, for the tenant customer relationships that reside within the facilities, for the employees that build and manage these assets, and for the environment through sustainable and renewable practices,” Marsh said.