One of the world’s largest hedge fund managers jumps into private equity.

Sightway Capital, the new private equity arm of Two Sigma, announced the final close of a new fund. The Sightway Capital I fund will center around building companies in financial services and real assets.

Sightway Capital will debut with $1.2 billion in commitments. According to reports, these commitments included a “diverse group of institutional investors.”

Massachusetts’ public pension fund also approved up to $500 million in commitments in 2018.

The Sightway Capital Fund

“With the closing of our first fund and the support of our new partners, we believe Sightway Capital is well-positioned to build on the current momentum of our portfolio companies,” said Wray Thorn, Chief Investment Officer in a statement. “We plan to invest this additional capital to further scale our established platform company investments and to drive long-term value for our investors.”

Meanwhile, this is a big development for Two Sigma, one of the world’s top quantitative hedge fund managers. Furthermore, the firm began exploring private capital opportunities in 2008. This development is also part of a broader effort by hedge funds to diversify their alternative investment strategies.

Finally, according to the company’s press release, the new fund will “bring data science and new technologies to private markets investing.”

The firm says it will maintain a flexible investment strategy. This will consist of building opportunities in partnership with experienced operators and strategic partners. These partnerships will stretch across two asset-intensive and data-rich verticals — financial services and real assets.

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