ARK Investment Management LLC Celebrates Five Years Of Disruptive Innovation Investing

NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ARK Investment Management LLC (ARK), a New York-based adviser focused solely on disruptive innovation, celebrated its five-year anniversary as a registered investment adviser on January 21, 2019. As of January 18, 2019, ARK's assets under management (AUM) had grown to $6.6 billion, a testament that ARK's active approach to investing and focus on disruptive innovation not only is unique to the industry, but also is driving its success. ARK offers a range of investment vehicles including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), institutional and retail separately managed accounts, US and international mutual funds, and a UCITs product.

"I founded ARK five years ago to focus on disruptive innovation, primarily in the public equity markets, with the belief that innovation is key to long-term growth but is severely undervalued in the public markets," stated Catherine Wood, ARK's CEO and CIO. "Our incisive investment process, open research ecosystem and truly active management of high-conviction portfolios allows us to capitalize on rapid change and avoid industries and companies likely to be displaced by advances in technology."

ARK believes all investors, both retail and institutional, should have access to investment opportunities in disruptive innovation. The firm is a global investment manager, advising or sub-advising funds and separate accounts across four continents, including North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. With a three year track record managing institutional assets, including state public pension plans, ARK is committed to expanding its institutional mandate and building on the success of its existing relationships.

ARK began operations in 2014 by launching a suite of actively managed equity ETFs centered on disruptive innovation. Today, ARK's ETFs, which now include two index funds, have grown to more than $2.3 billion as of January 18, 2019. As reported in September 2018,¹ three of ARK's funds were among the best unleveraged ETFs based on three-year returns. Since inception, all of ARK's ETFs have outperformed the broad-based equity markets.

The firm's investment strategies include the following:

• Disruptive Innovation is built on the cornerstone investments across all of the firm's innovation themes, including robotics, artificial intelligence, energy storage, genome sequencing and blockchain technology. The AUM in the ETF focusing on this strategy, ARKK, increased 190% in 2018. As of January 18, 2019, it had more than $1.3 billion AUM. ARKK was awarded "ETF of the Year" (2017) by ETF.com and "Active ETF of the Year" (2017) by Fund Intelligence. The AUM of the overall strategy, which includes the American Beacon ARK Disruptive Innovation Mutual Fund (Institutional: ADNIX; Investor: ADNPX) is approximately $2 billion.
• Industrial Innovation captures the rapidly converging industrial and technology sectors, providing exposure to autonomous vehicles, energy storage, robotics, 3D printing, and space exploration. The AUM of the ETF focusing on this strategy, ARKQ, was more than $163 million as of January 18, 2019.
• Next Generation Internet identifies innovations including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and blockchain technology. The ETF focusing on this strategy, ARKW, was the first public fund to invest in bitcoin through the purchase of publicly traded shares of Grayscale's Bitcoin Investment Trust. ARKW was awarded the "ETF Innovative Product of the Year" (2015) by Fund Action. As of January 18, 2019, its AUM was more than $445 million.
• Genomic Revolution captures the convergence of technology and health care, providing exposure to leading edge biotechnologies including CRISPR gene-editing, immunotherapies, molecular diagnostics, and agricultural biology. The ETF focusing on this strategy, ARKG, experienced a 383% increase in AUM in 2018. As of January 18, 2019, it had an AUM of more than $306 million. Recently launched in Japan, the sub-advised mutual fund employing this strategy has an AUM of more than $51 million.
• Fintech Innovation, a strategy with $2.9 billion in AUM, focuses on innovations that are revolutionizing the financial industry. In Japan, ARK sub-advises a fintech mutual fund which received the Morningstar Fund of the Year 2017 Global Equity Award. ARK expects to launch its fintech strategy in the United States during the first quarter of 2019.
• Mobility-As-A-Service, a strategy with more than $552 million in AUM, recognizes that innovations within automation, robotics, and energy storage should upend the traditional automotive industry and transform the transportation backbone of both the developed and developing world.
• Space Exploration, a strategy approaching $4 million in AUM, provides exposure to advanced space and satellite technologies that are transforming logistics, cybersecurity, agriculture, telecommunication, drones, and rocket technology.
• Israel Innovative Technology has an overall strategy AUM of more than $52 million and provides exposure to Israeli companies across industries such as health care, life sciences, and manufacturing. It includes the index ETF IZRL and the Nikko EurAsia "New Silk Road" Fund.
• 3D Printing captures the high growth potential of 3D printing companies that are set to transform the manufacturing landscape. With an AUM of more than $38 million, PRNT is the first and only ETF to focus solely on the 3D printing ecosystem.

In 2018, editors at Bloomberg acknowledged Catherine Wood and ARK by selecting Cathie to be included in its second annual Bloomberg 50 list of people across business, entertainment, finance, politics, technology, and science who have defined global business.² Additionally, Fortune named Cathie to its exclusive roundtable of experts in the annual Fortune Investors Guide: The Best Investing Advice for 2019 From Fortune's Experts.³

About ARK Investment Management LLC

Headquartered in New York City, ARK Investment Management LLC is a federally registered investment adviser and privately held investment firm with approximately $6.6 billion assets under management as of January 18, 2019. Specializing in thematic investing in disruptive innovation, the firm is rooted in over 40 years of experience in identifying and investing in disruptive innovations that should change the way the world works and deliver outsized growth as industries transform. Through its open research process, ARK identifies companies that it believes are leading and benefiting from cross-sector innovations centered around genome sequencing, energy storage, robotics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology. ARK's investment strategies include: Industrial Innovation, Next Generation Internet, Genomic Revolution, Fintech Innovation, Mobility-as-a-Service, Space Exploration, 3D Printing, Israel Innovative Technology, and the overall ARK Disruptive Innovation Strategy.

In July 2016, Resolute Investment Managers, Inc., the parent company of American Beacon Advisors, Inc., made a minority interest investment in ARK. In August 2017, Nikko Asset Management ("Nikko AM") also acquired a minority stake in ARK to enhance its disruptive innovation focused investment solutions. These partnerships are providing ARK with distribution across the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions.

For more information regarding ARK's research and advisor services, please visit http://www.ark-invest.com.

For additional information regarding ARK's funds, please visit http://www.ark-funds.com.

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives and risks as well as charges and expenses of an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") before investing. This and other information are contained in each ETF's prospectus, which may be obtained by visiting www.ark-funds.com. Read carefully before investing.

An investment in an ETF is subject to risks and you can lose money on your investment in an ETF. There can be no assurance that the ETFs will achieve their investment objectives. The ARK ETFs also have specific risks, which are described below. More detailed information regarding these risks can be found in the ARK ETFs' prospectuses.

The principal risks of investing in the ARK ETFs include: Equity Securities Risk. The value of the equity securities the ARK ETF holds may fall due to general market and economic conditions. Concentration Risk: The Fund's assets may be concentrated in a particular industry or group of industries to the extent the Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries. Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in the securities of foreign issuers involve risks beyond those associated with investments in U.S. securities. Health Care Sector Risk. The health care sector may be affected by government regulations and government health care programs. Industrials Sector Risk. Companies in the industrials sector may be adversely affected by changes in government regulation, world events, economic conditions, environmental damages, product liability claims and exchange rates. Information Technology Sector Risk. Information technology companies face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins. Israel Risk. Israeli companies may be adversely affected by changes in political climate, government regulation, world events, economic conditions, and exchange rates. The unique characteristics of securities of Israeli companies and the Israel stock market may have a negative impact on IZRL. Index Tracking Risk. The returns of IZRL and PRNT may not match the returns of the Index.

Cryptocurrency Risk. ARKK, ARKW, and ARKQ may have investments in cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency (notably, bitcoin), often referred to as ''virtual currency'' or ''digital currency,'' operates as a decentralized, peer-to-peer financial exchange and value storage that is used like money. The Fund may have exposure to bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, indirectly through an investment in the Bitcoin Investment Trust (''GBTC''), a privately offered, open-end investment vehicle. Cryptocurrency operates without central authority or banks and is not back by any government. Even indirectly, cryptocurrencies (i.e., bitcoin) may experience very high volatility and related investment vehicles like GBTC may be affected by such volatility. As a result of holding cryptocurrency, the Fund may also trade at a significant premium to NAV. Cryptocurrency is also not legal tender. Federal, state or foreign governments may restrict the use and exchange of cryptocurrency, and regulation in the U.S. is still developing. Cryptocurrency exchanges may stop operating or permanently shut down due to fraud, technical glitches, hackers or malware. Cryptocurrency Tax Risk. Many significant aspects of the U.S. federal income tax treatment of investments in bitcoin are uncertain and an investment in bitcoin may produce income that is not treated as qualifying income for purposes of the income test applicable to regulated investment companies, such as the Fund. GBTC is expected to be treated as a grantor trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and therefore an investment by the Fund in GBTC will generally be treated as a direct investment in bitcoin for such purposes. See ''Taxes'' in the Fund's SAI for more information. Detailed information regarding the specific risks of the ARK ETFs can be found in the ARK ETFs' prospectuses.

Additional risks of investing in ARK ETFs include equity, market, management and non-diversification risks, as well as fluctuations in market value and net asset value ("NAV"). The market price of ETF shares may differ significantly from their NAV during periods of market volatility. ETF shares may only be redeemed directly with the ETF at NAV by Authorized Participants, in very large creation units. Holdings are subject to change without notice and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. There can be no guarantee that an active trading market for ETF shares will develop or be maintained, or that their listing will continue or remain unchanged. Buying or selling ETF shares on an exchange may require the payment of brokerage commissions and frequent trading may incur brokerage costs that detract significantly from investment returns.

ARK Investment Management, LLC is the investment adviser to the ARK ETFs Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor.

¹ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-24/how-cathie-wood-bought-bitcoin-and-ruled-the-etf-rankings
² https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-bloomberg-50/
³ http://fortune.com/longform/best-stocks-2019-investor-roundtable/

Contact: Shaina Tavares, 646-808-3731, [email protected]

SOURCE ARK Investment Management

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