St. Petersburg-based ARK Invest, the investment management firm founded by Cathie Wood, has filed plans for 14 new exchange-traded funds targeting emerging technologies, from self-driving taxis and humanoid robots to orbital data centers and experimental medical treatments intended to extend human life.
The proposed expansion, detailed in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, would give investors more specialized ways to invest in artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and digital finance, including industries already represented in ARK’s existing investment funds.
Its Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF, for example, already invests in companies involved in self-driving vehicles and robotics, while the proposed lineup would introduce separate funds devoted to robotaxis and humanoid robots, allowing investors to concentrate more heavily on either industry.
The plans would also take ARK into more unusual territory, including an Orbital Data Centers ETF focused on companies developing computing infrastructure in space, an emerging concept that could eventually move some computing operations beyond traditional facilities on Earth.
Five proposed funds would target artificial intelligence, including software capable of performing tasks independently, companies developing advanced AI models, specialized cloud computing providers, cybersecurity and the equipment needed to support increasingly powerful systems.
Another four would concentrate on biotechnology and medicine, covering research into slowing the effects of aging, developing new treatments for complex diseases and connecting computers directly to the human brain, while two additional funds would focus on digital banking and blockchain-based financial systems.
The plans would expand an established investment business whose flagship ARK Innovation ETF reported approximately $7.9 billion in net assets as of Sept. 30, giving the company additional opportunities to attract investors interested in particular technologies rather than broader collections of emerging industries.
Those investors would also face the risks associated with highly specialized funds, which could place substantial amounts of money in relatively few companies whose technologies remain commercially unproven.
ARK has not disclosed how much money it expects the proposed funds to attract, when they might begin trading or whether the expansion would bring additional jobs to its St. Petersburg headquarters.