[ TECH TRENDS ]
concert produced in collaboration
with the game – had more than 27
million viewers.
Witnessing China’s empty streets
during its early lockdown, 8AM
investment managers Andy Merricks
and Tom McGrath bought the
VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and
eSports ETF, which – alongside
EMQQ’s Emerging Markets Internet &
Ecommerce ETF – gives their Focused
fund exposure without the pressure
of forcing them to pick stocks in a
relatively young sub-sector.
“If you buy everything, you won’t
miss out on the two or three stocks that
will probably come to the fore anyway,
over time,” they say. “You also won’t get
hammered by picking the wrong ones.”
Convergence is not just happening in
gaming: Porter eyes “social commerce”.
“Facebook is now launching its
e-commerce initiative,” she adds.
“Lots of small- and medium-sized
businesses that had no online
focus before, that don’t need a big
distribution network but might need a
shopfront, can use Instagram to go on,
see an item and shop through. Social
commerce is a really emerging trend.”
In terms of identifying the emerging
themes worth pursuing, Merricks
simply says: “I try and identify what
the world wants. Cybersecurity has
been a favoured theme for about five
“When you witness a
rise in a sector like tech
that everyone wants to
get involved in, you will
inevitably see a rise in the
people who want to break
and steal that”
years. When you witness a rise in a
sector like tech that everyone wants
to get involved in, you will inevitably
see a rise in the people who want to
break and steal that.”
His vehicle of choice is the Cyber
Security UCITS ETF from Legal &
General Investment Management.
Aanand Venkatramanan, LGIM’s
head of ETF investment strategies,
highlights cybersecurity as a
prominent theme, with a $1trn
worldwide spend estimated between
2017 and 2021.
With a 350 per cent increase in
ransomware attacks in 2018 and the
internet of things expected to see 100
billion connected devices by 2025,
Venkatramanan identifies investments
across areas as broad as cloud,
predictive analytics and biometrics and
identification, far beyond just malware
and viruses commonly associated with
the theme.
“That is just the tip of the iceberg,”
he says.
trustnet.com