Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Toronto, has teamed up with Google parent company Alphabet and its subsidiary Sidewalk Labs to launch a new company that will hold, acquire and invest in technology-enabled infrastructure, the investors confirmed Friday.
The company, called Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, which is based in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, is "focused on large-scale, advanced infrastructure projects that typically require (more than) $100 million in equity," a spokeswoman for SIP said in an email Friday.
SIP, which spun out of Sidewalk Labs, the urban innovation business of Alphabet, will target five areas through its investments in infrastructure projects and related companies: advanced mobility, energy, water and waste, digital infrastructure and social infrastructure, according to a statement on Ontario Teachers' website.
"SIP's experienced investment team will draw on the expertise and strengths of its relationships and partners, including its anchor partners — Alphabet, Sidewalk Labs and Ontario Teachers – who will bring to the table their capital, capabilities and commitment to delivering next-generation infrastructure," the statement said.
"In all of these verticals, SIP will facilitate the application of technology to enable sustainable, distributed and intelligent urban infrastructure, creating jobs, improving mobility, and providing more environmentally friendly infrastructure solutions," the statement said.
Ontario Teachers had C$201.4 billion ($153.8 billion) in assets of June 30. In total, infrastructure investments make up 9% of its total portfolio, the pension fund disclosed earlier this month.
"Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners provides an exciting opportunity for Ontario Teachers' to join Alphabet and Sidewalk Labs in helping to transform infrastructure in North America through the use of technology," said Olivia Steedman, a senior managing director, who leads the pension fund's Teachers' Innovation Platform focused on late-stage venture capital and growth equity investments in technology companies, in an emailed statement.
"We will bring our infrastructure and investment expertise to the table, while leveraging our partners' world-leading capabilities in technology, to enable sustainable, intelligent and efficient physical infrastructure," Ms. Steedman said. SIP is led by co-CEOs Brian Barlow and Jonathan Winer, who co-founded the company.
Mr. Winer was previously the head of investments at Sidewalk Labs, while Mr. Barlow was previously the director of infrastructure investments there, SIP's website said.
