Recently launched firm VistaShares announced Tuesday that it launched its first ETF: the VistaShares Artificial Intelligence Supercycle ETF, which is trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AIS.
The fund is actively managed, and constructed around the new firm’s focus on “Supercycles,” which it defines as technology-driven disruptive trends that are “upending everything from how we travel to how we work and even how we think.”
VistaShares is looking to solve what it said in a release are the “major issues with existing thematic ETFs: over concentration in mega-cap names and underexposure to emerging leaders.”
The fund was designed with the help of technology thought leaders to provide investors with exposure to the full Supercycle, with a focus on what the company sees as the “hidden gems” of the sector that drive innovation and profits within their respective supply chains, it said. The fund follows a patent-pending, rules-based methodology, and its investment committee adds and removes companies to reflect what it views as the most current global ecosystem.
AIS focuses on the AI supply chain, emphasizing companies whose components are used to build AI data centers and AI semiconductors.
“The case for thematic investing is obvious but to this point investors have not been well served by the typical thematic ETF, which is too often marked by overconcentration in the ‘big names’ tied to a particular trend and underexposure,” according to Adam Patti, CEO of VistaShares.
“Sometimes, investors have no exposure to the companies that are fostering real innovation,” he said. “It is well past time to fix this problem in thematic investing and we’re thrilled to be introducing AIS, bringing investors more robust access to these Supercycles for the first time.”
Patti was previously the Founder and CEO of IndexIQ and Head of Global ETFs for New York Life Investment Management.
The firms says it was built to “leverage the visionary leadership of top industry leaders who have personally powered the development and direction of these Supercycle industries from their earliest days, and who are now applying that knowledge to the firm’s ETFs.”
In addition to Patti, VistaShares is led by Jon McNeill, Co-Founder, who previously co-founded DVx Ventures and served as President of Tesla; Dave Nadig, Strategic Advisor; Robert Whitelaw, Chief Investment Strategist; and Sunny Madra, Advisor to the Investment Committee.
“The approach VistaShares is taking to the ‘thematic’ space is both novel and exciting,” said Nadig. “With rapidly evolving technologies responding to an unpredictable world, tapping into the human expertise behind each industry’s growth is the only way to ensure clear eyes on the future.”
“Today marks the first step towards our long-term goal of building an ETF industry leader,” according to McNeill. “Starting with Artificial Intelligence, VistaShares has created a vehicle for investors to truly reap the benefits of these innovative Supercycles driving the next wave of growth across the globe, while providing value for decades to come.”
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jberman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
