Goldman Sachs has made an investment in BTIG, an equity trading and brokerage firm that caters to the hedge fund community.

According to a BTIG spokesman, the proceeds from Goldman Sachs’ investment are expected to be used to facilitate the company's ongoing growth plans, which include expanding in the U.S. and building out the firm’s trading capabilities in other strategic international locations.

BTIG will continue to operate as a fully independent firm, majority-owned by its employees.

“As a leading execution broker, BTIG is fast becoming one of the most recognized agency execution firms helping institutional investors source liquidity to implement their trading decisions,” said Philip Hylander, a managing director at Goldman Sachs.

"We formed BTIG knowing that changes in the brokerage industry could create an opportunity for a high-touch customer service oriented firm to succeed,” said Scott Kovalik, co-founding partner of BTIG. 

“This investment will assist us in expanding our businesses and deploying our quality service model to a broader base of clients,” said Steve Starker, co-founding partner of BTIG.

BTIG serves nearly 1,000 institutional customers and offers services from four divisions: institutional trading, prime brokerage, outsource trading and direct market access. The firm has offices in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Greenwich, Red Bank, and Aspen, and has affiliates in London, Hong Kong and Sydney.