ARK Invest opens a private fund for retail clients with Titan’s support. Retail investors now have access to venture money thanks to a highly awaited new investment vehicle.
The famed fund manager Cathie Wood is at the helm of the innovation-focused investment company.
The ARK Invest Venture Fund was established in collaboration with the brokerage Titan, which is financed by Andreessen Horowitz, and will only be accessible to users of the online platform, according to a joint statement released by ARK and Titan on Tuesday morning.
In a statement, Wood stated, “We intend to disrupt venture finance by introducing the ARK Venture Fund, providing all investors access to what we think to be the most innovative firms throughout their private and public market life cycles.”
The new investment vehicle will allow ordinary investors to allocate to firms prior to their initial public offerings (IPO) with a minimum investment of $500.
Also, it is anticipated to earn an annual fee of 2.75%. On deposits of at least $10,000 or the $5 monthly fee for deposits of less than $10,000, the fund will waive Titan’s 1% annual advising costs.
The project comes at a time when Wood’s eight exchange-traded funds are struggling, especially the flagship ARK Innovation (ARKK) strategy, which has lost 60% of its value so far this year.
Along with closing down one of its ETFs, ARK also just resigned from managing the company’s two index funds.
Despite its free-fall from its highs, ARK has been able to hold onto investors and draw in new ones. However, according to Bloomberg data, the popular ARKK ETF had $803 in redemptions in August, the most monthly outflow since last September.
The new joint fund will replicate ARK’s investments in the disruptive technology themes that her ETFs concentrate on—robotics, energy storage, genomic sequencing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology—but in private companies.
This will allow for longer hold times on investor assets during times of market turbulence.
