Polar Capital Global Technology Fund

Investing in technology is more than simply buying into Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook. It’s about disruption. It’s about innovation. It’s about identifying markets that are being disrupted through the use of technology. It’s about finding the next Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook. And that’s the approach behind the Polar Capital Global Technology Fund.

The ‘last generation’ of technology

It was Mark Twain that said “history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” And Ben Rogoff, one of the two co-managers running the fund, studied history at university and agrees – there is much to learn from the past. He says that many of the changes we are seeing today can be better understood by looking at transformations that have happened previously in other industries. But we don’t have to go back very far, to see this transformation in the technology market.

Go back just 25 years and it was the PC market that was the disruptor, transforming the modern workplace from a paper-based environment into what it is today and offering households access to home technology. But now the PC market is mature with little to no growth left. Yet those PC companies still exist, and they are very large.

The team at Polar refer to markets like this as the ‘last generation of technology’. The growth has gone and it’s time to move onto the ‘next generation’ of technology.

The ‘next generation’ of technology

Today, there are plenty of markets that are being disrupted, and plenty of companies that have the potential to take advantage and grow strongly, which means plenty of opportunities for the fund. Examples include e-commerce, cyber security, cloud computing, digital entertainment, and online advertising – and of course, Artificial Intelligence. These are all markets which are growing strongly, and where the team can find companies to invest in.

But one day, these companies will fall into the ‘last generation’ of technologies. They will have matured and no longer become attractive to invest in. As a result, the team are always looking for what is coming next. And there are countless opportunities today which are in their early stages of development, but not yet at a stage that you can invest in.

These businesses will become the growth stories of tomorrow’s generation of technology. Examples include autonomous vehicles and robotics, smart agriculture (think vertical farming), mass energy storage, and machine learning.

The ‘sweet spot’ in technology

This is what we like about the fund. There exists this ‘sweet spot’ in the technology market where companies are growing incredibly fast. The fund looks to avoid the old world of technology, whose mega cap businesses dominate the holdings in an ETF or tracker fund. There are always companies disrupting.

So, it doesn’t matter what happens to the NASDAQ or the technology market as a whole, because this fund is not about just buying everything. It’s about investing in the companies that are disrupting our lives every single day, from the device you are reading this email on, to the method by which you paid for your Amazon delivery.

The Global Technology Team at Polar Capital is one of the largest teams in Europe dedicated to investing in technology. While we appreciate that history does not repeat itself, this concept of disruption and innovation has been around for a very long time. If you are looking to invest in the ever-changing world of technology, this could be a fund worth considering. Find out more information on this fund.

Correct at the time of publishing.

To diversify your investment, you may like to consider our own Barclays Ready-made Investments (RMI). The RMI are just one example of a range of diversified funds which allow you to select the level of risk you are most comfortable with. These multi-asset funds invest in passive funds across a range of asset classes and regions, offering a globally diversified solution for investors. Ready-made Investments are not the only funds that we offer and they won’t be appropriate for everyone.

Past performance of the fund and its manager are not a reliable indicator of their future performance.

We don’t offer personal investment advice so if you’re unsure you should seek that independently.

Funds are designed for the long term so you should only consider them if you can stay invested for at least five years.

These are our current opinions but the future, as ever, is uncertain and outcomes may differ.

Read the Assessment of Value report [PDF, 3.2MB] for funds run by Barclays.