What Five 9s Digital does

Five 9s Digital is a privately-held boutique real estate advisory and brokerage firm specializing exclusively in data center properties across the United States. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Charlotte, NC, with additional offices in New York and San Francisco, the firm operates as a principal-led intermediary serving institutional investors, data center operators, and corporate data center owners. Its revenue is generated through three streams: brokerage commissions on acquisitions, dispositions, and leases (transaction fees), advisory/consulting retainers for market analysis, site selection, due diligence, and sale-leaseback structuring (professional services fees), and gains from owned-property development and disposition (development economics), with disclosed transaction values ranging from approximately $6M to $85M.

The firm's core product surface comprises four service lines — Available Data Centers (a marketplace for sale/lease listings), Brokerage (transaction representation), Consulting (strategic advisory and market intelligence), and Development (build-to-suit, powered-shell, and greenfield projects) — plus a dedicated AI Data Centers vertical addressing high-power-density AI/HPC and crypto-mining deployments. Five 9s also publishes Data Center Knowledge research content and institutional market reports, which function as thought-leadership and demand-generation assets rather than standalone revenue products. The firm has built and held single-tenant data center assets (Hilton/Memphis 2015, Flexential/Jacksonville 2016, Northstate/Charlotte 2020, BCBS/Phoenix 2021), executing a develop-and-exit model with multi-year holds.

Five 9s Digital's go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, with senior principals (Doug Hollidge, Steve) directly originating and executing engagements. It targets three primary customer segments: data center operators (Expedient, Flexential, CyrusOne, DataBank, Segra, Lumen/Centurylink), institutional investors acquiring digital infrastructure, and corporate owners executing sale-leasebacks (Bank of America, IBM, Verizon). Distribution is via direct advisory outreach, the company website's property listings, content/research marketing, and a co-marketing alliance with Colliers for larger institutional transactions. The firm has earned NAIOP "Best Project" awards (2016 Ohio, 2026 Columbus) and operates across more than a dozen U.S. states.

Name

Five 9s Digital

Legal name

Five 9s Digital

Website

https://five9sdigital.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Boutique U.S. data center real estate advisory and brokerage firm offering brokerage, consulting, build-to-suit development, and AI-focused facility services to data center operators, institutional investors, and corporate owners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Data Center Real Estate Services

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531), Real Estate Dealers (For Their Own Account) (6532)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Center & Digital Infrastructure Site Brokerage (BPAJACAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Data Center Real Estate (REITs) & Leasing (HDABACAL), Data Center Tenant Representation (BPAJALAI), Real Assets — Digital Infrastructure (Data Centers, Fiber, Towers) (FSAHAIAF)

Keywords

• Data center brokerage
• Data center advisory
• Data center development
• Data center consulting
• Digital infrastructure real estate

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlotte

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Brokerage Commissions: The company earns brokerage commissions on the sale and lease of data center real estate assets. This includes representing institutional investors, data center operators, and corporations in buying, selling, and leasing data center facilities.
2. Advisory Services Fees: Five 9s Digital provides advisory services including market evaluation, transaction negotiation, due diligence support, and strategic consulting for data center real estate transactions. These professional services generate fee-based revenue.
3. Property Development: The company develops data center properties for sale or lease to operators, generating revenue through property development and subsequent disposition. Owns and manages a portfolio of data center assets that are sold when optimal conditions are met.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Five 9s Digital is a boutique data center real estate advisory and brokerage firm that advises institutional investors, data center operators, and corporate owners on acquisitions, dispositions, lease transactions, sale-leasebacks, and build-to-suit development of data center properties across the United States. The firm also publishes market intelligence and maintains a portfolio of available data center listings, and directly develops and owns data center assets that it sells or leases to operators.

Product overview

Five 9s Digital is a data center real estate firm offering a portfolio of services centered around data center properties. The core offerings include a marketplace for available data centers (lease/sale), AI-ready data center solutions for large-scale deployments, development services for build-to-suit and powered land projects, brokerage for acquisitions and dispositions, and consulting advisory services. The company also provides research and market intelligence through its Data Center Knowledge and Research platforms. These services are integrated under a single real estate advisory model rather than a unified software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brokerage Data center real estate brokerage services representing buyers, sellers, and tenants in acquisitions, dispositions, and lease negotiations for single-tenant and multi-tenant facilities.
• Consulting Strategic advisory services for data center real estate including market analysis, site selection, lease renegotiation, due diligence support, and transaction advisory.
• Development Data center development services including build-to-suit facilities, powered land, and greenfield development for hyperscale and enterprise requirements, plus direct ownership and disposition of developed assets.
• Available Data Centers Listing service for data center properties available for lease or sale across the United States, featuring both vacant and occupied facilities marketed by Five 9s Digital.
• AI Data Centers Specialized data center properties and solutions designed to support AI infrastructure, HPC workloads, and large-scale AI deployments with scalable power and connectivity.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully completed the sale of a 6 MW single-tenant data center in Columbus, Ohio to long-term tenant Expedient, originally developed as build-to-suit in 2016.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• CollierscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFive 9s Digital and Colliers co-market certain large data center properties for sale or lease. This partnership enables broader market reach for significant transactions, including the 130,000 SF Pittsburgh powered shell data center (40+ MW) and Baltimore-area data center listings.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Cushman & Wakefield: Global commercial real estate services firm with a dedicated Data Center Advisory Group providing transaction, valuation, and consulting services. Overlaps directly with Five 9s' brokerage and advisory model across institutional data center owners and operators.
• JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle): Global CRE services firm with an active Data Center Capital Markets and Advisory practice serving investors, operators, and occupiers. Comparable in providing buy-side/sell-side advisory and tenant representation for data center assets, with the depth and capital markets reach of a global incumbent.
• DigitalBridge: Leading global digital infrastructure investment firm (data centers, towers, fiber) that both invests as principal and provides advisory services through its Vantage Data Centers and broader platform. Comparable as a counterparty and indirect competitor across the data center investment advisory space.
• CBRE Group: Largest global commercial real estate services firm with a dedicated Data Center Solutions practice advising on acquisitions, dispositions, and development across institutional and operator clients. Directly comparable as a data center real estate advisor, but with vastly greater scale, capital markets capabilities, and global footprint.
• Colliers International: Global CRE services firm and active Five 9s co-marketing partner on large data center mandates including the Pittsburgh and Baltimore listings. Comparable as a data center capital markets and brokerage advisor with broader service breadth and international reach.
• Newmark Group: Public CRE services firm with a Capital Markets practice advising on data center investment sales, financing, and recapitalizations. Comparable as a transaction advisor serving institutional investors and operators in the digital infrastructure space.

Emerging players

• North American Data Centers (NADC): Specialty data center brokerage and advisory firm focused exclusively on colocation and hyperscale assets in North America. Closely comparable as another boutique, pure-play data center real estate intermediary competing in the same niche as Five 9s.

Direct peers

• Avison Young: Privately held global CRE services firm with a growing Data Center and Digital Infrastructure practice offering brokerage, advisory, and consulting. Closely comparable as a privately-held, relationship-driven firm operating alongside much larger incumbents in the data center real estate niche.

Others

• JLL Data Center Capital Markets: JLL's dedicated data center capital markets team is the most direct specialty competitor to Five 9s within the broader incumbent, frequently handling the same institutional sale-leaseback and portfolio transactions.
• Cushman & Wakefield Data Center Advisory Group (specialty comparison): Listed separately to acknowledge the specialty practice within C&W that most directly competes with Five 9s' pure-play data center focus, even though the parent firm is a broad incumbent.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/five9sdigital
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/five-9s-digital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Five 9s Digital