Starwood Capital Closes $10.2B Fund, Doubles Down on Data Centers

• Starwood Capital closed Fund XIII at $10.2 billion, topping the $10 billion raised for its 2021 predecessor
• The fund will put 35% of its capital into data centers, double its prior commitment to the sector
• It's already closed 20 deals worth $3 billion in equity, including a bitcoin-to-AI conversion play with MARA Holdings
• Multifamily, industrial, and hospitality round out the mandate across the U.S., Europe, and Asia

Barry Sternlicht just raised his biggest fund yet, and he's betting more of it than ever on data centers.

Starwood tops its own record

Starwood Capital Group closed Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund XIII at $10.2 billion, edging past the $10 billion it raised for SOF XII in 2021, which was itself the largest fundraise in the firm's history at the time. That fund had topped its own predecessor, SOF XI, which closed at $7.6 billion. Sternlicht, Starwood's chairman and founder, called the raise proof of the firm's "track record of delivering results for our investors through market cycles."

SOF XIII is opportunistic by design, meaning it can move across property types and geographies as pricing shifts. This time, that flexibility points hard at one sector: data centers will absorb 35% of the fund, roughly $3.6 billion, double what Starwood had previously earmarked for the asset class. Multifamily, industrial, and hospitality fill out the rest, with deals targeted across the U.S., Europe, and, to a lesser extent, Asia.

Already deploying, and teaming up with a bitcoin miner

The fund isn't waiting around. Starwood has closed or committed to 20 transactions totaling $3 billion of equity, nearly a third of the fund, since it started raising. Jonathan Pollack, Starwood's president, pointed to a supply shortage across traditional property types plus what he called "a tremendous growth" in tech and industrial demand as the driver.

On the data center side, Starwood is leaning on Starwood Digital Ventures, its in-house platform, and a February tie-up with MARA Holdings, the bitcoin miner, to convert former mining sites into AI and hyperscale-ready campuses targeting roughly 1 gigawatt of near-term capacity. Standalone data center developments can run as high as $2 billion, so Starwood's approach favors co-investing alongside larger players rather than going it alone on every site.

A record fund in a record market

Starwood's raise lands in a sector already moving at a record pace. Private equity poured $45.7 billion into U.S. data centers in 2025, a five-year high, and Blackstone's 2021 take-private of QTS for $10 billion, once a landmark deal on its own, has since grown into a data center portfolio Blackstone values at more than $150 billion. Newer entrants are pursuing the same thesis on a smaller scale: SDC Capital Partners is out raising $5 billion, aimed almost entirely at hyperscale build-to-suit projects.

Starwood now manages roughly $130 billion in assets. With SOF XIII already a third deployed, expect the next wave of closings to lean heavily on the MARA sites and further data center co-investments as the fund works toward putting the remaining $7 billion-plus to work.