ARK Invest is betting big on private tech companies.
“It’s an amazing time to invest in innovation,” the firm’s chief futurist, Brett Winton, told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “Both venture exposures and public innovation companies are incredibly well valued today to take a long-term investment.”
Winton worked with the ARK Invest team to create the ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), a closed end interval fund, in September 2022.
Closed-end interval funds allow investors to invest in private companies at their net asset value at any time, regardless of market volatility. Investors can then sell back to the fund quarterly during specific time frames.
According to ARK Invest‘s website, the fund’s largest private holdings as of April 10 were Epic Games, SpaceX, Freenome and Anthropic.
“Interval funds were designed specifically to allow everyday investors to invest in less liquid assets,” Winton said. “You don’t have to be an accredited investor … and you get to invest at the net asset value.”
As of Thursday’s close, the ARK Venture Fund was up 29% since its inception date. However, it’s off more than 7% year to date.