ARK Investment Management Announces Formal Launch As A Registered Investment Advisor And Private Investment Firm

NEW YORK, April 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- ARK Investment Management (ARK) today announced its launch as a Registered Investment Adviser and Privately Held Investment Firm, focused on thematic investing with a fresh take on fundamental analysis. ARK founder and Chief Executive Officer Cathie Wood has over thirty years of experience in thematic investing. ARK will invest in themes that are technologically enabled and participate in disruptive innovation across a number of sectors. ARK's investment themes include The Genomic Revolution, Industrial Innovation and Web x.0. The range of industries includes robotics, 3-D printing, personalized medicine, genetic sequencing, cloud computing and social media.

Ms. Wood is launching ARK after spending the previous twelve years at AllianceBernstein, where she served as Chief Investment Officer for its thematic portfolios. Previously, Ms. Wood co-founded Tupelo Capital Management, which became the largest women-run hedge fund in the world in 2000. Prior to Tupelo, Ms. Wood held numerous positions, including research analyst and portfolio manager, in her eighteen years at Jennison Associates. During her career, Ms. Wood has tracked technologies that enabled the development of new industries such as cell phones and database publishing from their nascent stages for the benefit of her investors and clients.

"ARK's goal is to invest at the pace of innovation, which we hope will bring a breath of fresh air into the industry," said Ms. Wood. "Our belief is that, thanks to technological breakthroughs, change is occurring at an accelerated rate, challenging benchmarks to adjust.  Our strategy is to find and invest in the companies that are poised to transform the global economy."

ARK seeks to bring balance back to portfolios that have become increasingly benchmark-sensitive. ARK believes that passive investing often doesn't capitalize on investment opportunities created by disruptive innovations or produce the returns investors can achieve through truly active equity management. ARK plans to offer active management focused on themes with long term time horizons. ARK expects its first set of portfolios to be active equity exchange traded funds.

ARK's team of research analysts will identify the best companies within their respective themes. ARK's research ecosystem is rooted in classical investing but harnesses the vast amount of information available through social media as well as traditional research sources. Embracing open-source principles, analysts will interact with theme developers in the worlds of social media, academia, sell-side research and industry thought leaders.

"Our analysts' backgrounds are different from what you see at more traditional investment firms, and so is their approach to research. While they are curating the best information across a number of resources, they are working with our theme developers and portfolio managers in a thorough vetting process. Our open and multiplatform research process allows them to identify truly disruptive companies well before they hit the headlines," Ms. Wood added.

Cathie Wood can be followed at @CathieDWood and the firm's themes can be tracked at @ARKindu @ARKgenome @ARKwebx0. ARK's corporate twitter feed can be followed at @ARKInvest,

About ARK Investment Management

Headquartered in New York City, ARK Investment Management is a registered investment adviser and Privately Held Investment Firm, specializing in thematic investing. The firm is rooted in over thirty years of experience in identifying and investing in disruptive innovations which enable outsized growth as industries transform. Through its open-source research ecosystem, ARK is able to identify companies that are leading and benefiting from disruptive forces that are cutting across economic sectors and changing how the world works.

SOURCE ARK Investment Management