WisdomTree, an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and exchange-traded product (“ETP”) sponsor, today announced the launch of the WisdomTree BioRevolution UCITS ETF (WDNA). Listed today on the London Stock Exchange and Börse Xetra, WDNA seeks to track the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the WisdomTree BioRevolution ESG Screened Index (WTDNA), and has an expense ratio of 0.45%.
The ETF offers access to firms associated with BioRevolution activities through investment in publicly listed companies, which are expected to lead the transformations and advancements in genetics and biotechnology and meet WisdomTree’s ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria.
“The biology revolution is creating a historic investment opportunity equivalent to the industrial and internet revolutions.” said Chris Gannatti, Global Head of Research, WisdomTree. “Advancements in biotechnology could represent the greatest innovations of our lifetime. The biology revolution has huge potential to address and mitigate some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity today whether that be climate change, food scarcity or controlling diseases and pandemics. New and transformative innovations could have a profound impact on society and the environment, improving the quality of life for many.”
WisdomTree leveraged insights from Dr Jamie Metzl, one of the world’s leading technology futurists[1] and Special Strategist for WisdomTree, in its construction of the WisdomTree BioRevolution ESG Screened Index, which identifies the key sectors and industries that are expected to be most significantly transformed by advances in biological science and technology.
“The genetics and biotechnology revolutions won’t just change our healthcare systems, allowing us to live healthier and longer lives,” explained Dr Jamie Metzl, author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity. “They will also fundamentally transform our world far beyond healthcare. The same technologies driving healthcare innovation will have a seismic impact on industries including agriculture, materials, energy, and information processing, revolutionizing the ways we treat disease, grow food, produce materials, and process data. If the nineteenth was the century of chemistry and the twentieth of physics, the twenty-first will be the century of biology. I am delighted to be collaborating with the amazing team at WisdomTree and uncovering some of the opportunities presented by this historic megatrend.”
WDNA is the fifth ETF in WisdomTree’s thematics UCITS range which also comprises of ETFs providing exposure to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cyber security and battery technology industries. WisdomTree’s thematics UCITS range, launched in 2018 with just one product, now has $1.8bn[2] in assets under management.
Alexis Marinof, Head of Europe, WisdomTree, added, “Our approach of partnering with sector experts to construct indices within our thematics product range has resonated with investors and delivered strong investment performance. This approach has contributed to the building of a $1.8bn[3] platform of differentiated thematic products which providing transparent and pure sector exposure in an ETF. WDNA brings together all the elements of the biology revolution and is at the sweet spot of innovation and diversification.”
WDNA: What’s Under the Bonnet?
The WisdomTree BioRevolution UCITS ETF merges both qualitative and quantitative evaluations of eligible stocks in an effort to identify a portfolio of best-in-class companies working at the forefront of these biological breakthroughs through the following themes:
· Human Health: The application of genetic technologies to prevent and treat diseases will lead to significant enhancements to human health, well-being and longevity, with vaccine development being a top example.
· Agriculture & Food: The genetics and biotechnology revolutions will increasingly transform agriculture, aquaculture, and food production, creating healthier and more sustainable models for feeding the growing population.
· Materials, Chemicals, & Energy: Biological reengineering will be used to produce an increasing percentage of the physical inputs needed for manufacturing.
· Biological Machines & Interfaces: DNA has approximately one million times greater storage capacity than hard-disk storage and has the potential to revolutionize data storage.
