Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: So a name from Milatara audience is Jamie Matzl. He's
Speaker 1: Senior Fellow at the Atlanta Council, former director on the
Speaker 1: U S National Security Council of the State Department, and
Speaker 1: on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Founder and chair of
Speaker 1: the global movement One Shared World. He's also a special
Speaker 1: strategist for Wisdom Tree, which leverage data from Jamie and
Speaker 1: its construction of the Wisdom Tree by a Revolution Index
Speaker 1: and the Wisdom Tree by a Revolution Fund. It's an
Speaker 1: a t F targeting companies expected to be impacted by
Speaker 1: advancements in genetics and biotechnology, and that fund about to
Speaker 1: be launched. Jamie joins us with more, along with Jeremy Schwartz,
Speaker 1: whose global head of research over at Wisdom Tree. Both
Speaker 1: are joining us on the phone in New York City. Jamie,
Speaker 1: welcome back, Jeremy. Nice to have you here on Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week. So, um, tell us about how you two
Speaker 1: got together, Jamie, I know this is something that's been
Speaker 1: on your radar for a long time. Yeah, well, thanks
Speaker 1: so much. Carol's thrilled to be back with you and
Speaker 1: you and I for years, and I've been talking about
Speaker 1: these issues. When my book Hacking Darwin Genetic Engineering in
Speaker 1: the Future of Humanity came out, um we talked about it,
Speaker 1: and the big issue is that we are we humanity
Speaker 1: are at the earliest stages of a revolution that is
Speaker 1: already changing the way we do and think about healthcare.
Speaker 1: But this is like the equivalent of the early days
Speaker 1: of industrialization or the early days of the Internet revolution,
Speaker 1: where the incredibly powerful tools of the genetics and biotechnology
Speaker 1: revolutions aren't just going to transform healthcare, but these same
Speaker 1: capabilities will overtime fundamentally transform a lot of other fields,
Speaker 1: including agriculture, material energy, data storage. And so I've always
Speaker 1: thought that this was just an incredible investment opportunity. And
Speaker 1: then last year, um I somebody reached out to me
Speaker 1: and it was Jeremy Schwartz, And Jeremy, you wanted to
Speaker 1: the story from here? Yeah, Jerry, what was it about
Speaker 1: it that was so appealing to you? Guys? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we've been doing a lot of investment around these big
Speaker 1: trends we're calling mega trends and growth opportunities. And I
Speaker 1: read Jamie's book, Actually one of my friends had highlighted
Speaker 1: as something that he was doing some investing around. I
Speaker 1: read the book and I was like, Wow, these are
Speaker 1: these are really big picture trends that's changing our lives
Speaker 1: UM And then I started thinking about how do we
Speaker 1: identify these companies on an ongoing basis? And I just
Speaker 1: reached out to Jamie and said, let's start the conversation.
Speaker 1: Are you interested in collaborating on something like this. We've
Speaker 1: been working with deep, thoughtful partners in this collab reform.
Speaker 1: You need to really know the space and know the
Speaker 1: cutting edge technologies, and I view Jamie as this biology
Speaker 1: guru who really could help us guide the big picture.
Speaker 1: What are the important technologies, what are the important companies?
Speaker 1: And getting some collaboration from Jamie on identifying these technologies
Speaker 1: and companies has has has been a really great experience here.
Speaker 1: So what's the data specifically behind the index that ultimately
Speaker 1: led to the a t UM Jamie, what was what
Speaker 1: was it the data that was specifically used? Because I
Speaker 1: think you know, when you're talking about things that can
Speaker 1: impact agg materials, data storage, I mean there's a lot
Speaker 1: there to unpack. So there's a lot there. But what
Speaker 1: we were looking at is parts of all of these
Speaker 1: different sectors where these revolutionary tools of the genetics and
Speaker 1: biotech revolutions we're going to empower new business models, new
Speaker 1: ways of doing things. And one great example of this
Speaker 1: that's very intimate for many of us are these m
Speaker 1: RNA vaccines. And so you and I, Carol, have talked
Speaker 1: about this the miracle of these mr and A vaccines.
Speaker 1: They're very different from the polio vaccine, for example, which
Speaker 1: was a dead or attenuated version of the polio virus.
Speaker 1: What the mRNA vaccine is we are basically injecting new
Speaker 1: instructions to ourselves to produce something that otherwise our bodies
Speaker 1: can't produce, which is this this spike protein uh. And
Speaker 1: then we have a natural immunological response, but that ability
Speaker 1: um to kind of manipulate in many ways the code
Speaker 1: of life. It's the mr and A vaccines aren't just
Speaker 1: about vaccines. This technology is a platform for thinking differently
Speaker 1: about how we treat all sorts of diseases going future,
Speaker 1: including lots of cancers and possibly even Alzheimer's. But the
Speaker 1: mr and A technology also has huge implications for how
Speaker 1: we think about growing crops and disrupting the way we
Speaker 1: think about fertilizers. The same is true with with tissue
Speaker 1: engineering and regenerative medicine. There's a transition and translation of
Speaker 1: all these great technologies from healthcare into thinking differently about
Speaker 1: how we cultivate food and precision agriculture, and so that
Speaker 1: we're trying to really capture areas of these technologies where
Speaker 1: the revolutionary tools are leading to new and disruptive business models.
Speaker 1: All right, gentlemen, sit tight for a second. Got to
Speaker 1: do a little bit world of national news here on Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: But we'll come right back and continue the conversation. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get back to Jeremy Schwartz, global head of Research
Speaker 1: over at wisdom Tree, along with Jamie Metzel, Senior Fellow
Speaker 1: at the Atlantic Council, former National Security Council official, on
Speaker 1: the phone in New York City, but talking about this
Speaker 1: new Wisdom Tree by a Revolution Index and ultimately the
Speaker 1: Wisdom Tree Bio Revolution Fund. I want to get back
Speaker 1: to our two guests. It is Jamie Metzel, Senior Fellow
Speaker 1: Atlantic Council, former director on the U S National Council
Speaker 1: at the State Department on the Senate Form Relations Committees,
Speaker 1: also special strategist for Wisdom Tree. He is still with
Speaker 1: us along with Jeremy Schwartz, global head of Research at
Speaker 1: Wisdom Tree, and talking about the launch of their new
Speaker 1: Wisdom Tree by a Revolution Fund UH in e t F,
Speaker 1: which actually launched Thursday. So forgive me because I think
Speaker 1: I miss spoke before. Both of them still with us
Speaker 1: on the phone in New York City. So let me
Speaker 1: ask you, Jeremy, talk to me about the interest in
Speaker 1: the fund so far. You know, it's a these type
Speaker 1: of funds, Uh, They're easy to understand, and then you
Speaker 1: get news stories like the Biogen announcement on the new
Speaker 1: Alzheimer's drug treatment up four percent. Biogen is actually the
Speaker 1: top holding in w DNA today, which is the you know,
Speaker 1: it's large and we're seeing good uh early conversations. One
Speaker 1: of the first clients I've talked to said they don't
Speaker 1: like very niche fund. A lot of folks fund folkus
Speaker 1: just on healthcare or the genomics theme. But what we
Speaker 1: are unique at is providing exposure to more than just
Speaker 1: the human health elements of things from Jamie talked about
Speaker 1: the tradition energy and agriculture and food and the new
Speaker 1: development that biogy is going to impact all these other sectors.
Speaker 1: So I have high expectations. I think this is going
Speaker 1: to be a a great story and and a fund
Speaker 1: that gets a lot of interest. Yeah, exactly, Well, it
Speaker 1: does sound like a basket that's going to expose you
Speaker 1: to a lot of different things. I mean, Jamie, as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know, it's agg it's you know, manufacturing it.
Speaker 1: Really it's not necessarily I think you hear biotech and
Speaker 1: you think medicine science, that's part of it, but that's
Speaker 1: just a component that's that's exactly right. The way I
Speaker 1: say is that healthcare is the first station on this journey.
Speaker 1: And part of that is because human health is so
Speaker 1: important to us, and part of that is because we're
Speaker 1: investing such a large percentage of our total GDP in healthcare.
Speaker 1: But these same underlying technologies, as I was saying before,
Speaker 1: that are driving the massive transformation in healthcare as we
Speaker 1: move from our world of generalized medicine to precision medicine,
Speaker 1: and we have all these new technologies that are allowing
Speaker 1: us to have these amazing vaccines and gene therapies and
Speaker 1: regenerative medicine, all this great stuff. It applies in all
Speaker 1: of these different sectors. Because the core issue is we
Speaker 1: are developing the ability to read and understand and manipulate
Speaker 1: in some ways the basic source code of life, and
Speaker 1: that scares a lot of people. But um, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of things that we're doing that we can
Speaker 1: just do in a better way. We we dig up
Speaker 1: oil and we go to wars over it, um, but
Speaker 1: we can create it using things like from things like algae.
Speaker 1: The same is true with different kinds of protein. We
Speaker 1: think of data storage. Um, we we know that we
Speaker 1: can have silicon chips, but you can dig up We
Speaker 1: just didn't this and I didn't do it, but dig
Speaker 1: up a DNA from a mammoth from a million years
Speaker 1: ago and it's still readable. So it's you know. As
Speaker 1: you know, Carol, I also write science fiction. I do
Speaker 1: a lot of thinking about the future, and this is
Speaker 1: really the intersection of science and science fiction. But it's
Speaker 1: happening in real time now with massive economic implications, and
Speaker 1: I have to say it reminds me a lot. I've
Speaker 1: been talking with Kathy wood over at our Investments for
Speaker 1: seven years, and she kicked off her company and she
Speaker 1: taps completely into the innovative space. She in particular has
Speaker 1: a fun that's just focusing on the genomic revolution, which
Speaker 1: was up a percent last year. About before that, it's
Speaker 1: kind of treading a little bit of water in terms
Speaker 1: of performance UM this year. You're fun though, the biotech
Speaker 1: and pharmaceutical exposure really is the bulk of the investments
Speaker 1: at this point. Are you concerned at all though that
Speaker 1: the run you know has kind of already happened. What
Speaker 1: makes you confident that it has the legs to keep
Speaker 1: going because your exposure, even though it applies to a
Speaker 1: lot of the world, is still really concentrated in particular
Speaker 1: in that biotech UM space. Uh, Jamie or Jeremy Jamie,
Speaker 1: you want to take that, sure, Well, I'll speak in
Speaker 1: general and I'll let you Jeremy go specific. There is
Speaker 1: a lot of excitement in this in this space, but
Speaker 1: we are at the very earliest stages of this, as
Speaker 1: I was saying before, of this transformative revolution. And so yes,
Speaker 1: I mean there are some companies that have gone up
Speaker 1: a lot, and they've and they've pulled back UM, but
Speaker 1: we're going to see more and more of that. I
Speaker 1: mean we we there would have been these same kinds
Speaker 1: of trends in the early days of the Internet revolution
Speaker 1: where there were some stocks that got bit up and
Speaker 1: then they and then they pulled back. And so for
Speaker 1: us UM, the bet is not on one individual stock.
Speaker 1: Our bet is on this this megatrend. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what's so interesting, and I think novel about our
Speaker 1: fund is that we have a lot of maturation in
Speaker 1: the healthcare field, but it's way it's very early in
Speaker 1: these other areas like agriculture and materials and energy, and
Speaker 1: so we're going to see this same kind of growth
Speaker 1: at some point. And that's why the distributed bet um
Speaker 1: in our view makes sense. But Jeremy Well and Jerry,
Speaker 1: let me just jump in for a second, because I
Speaker 1: do wonder, as I said right now, if I look
Speaker 1: at the allocations, you know, the exposure to biotech and pharmaceuticals,
Speaker 1: I think it's like fifty six for biotech and about pharmaceuticals,
Speaker 1: I would assume as the impact of the work that
Speaker 1: they are doing impacts you know, healthcare, agg food, electronics,
Speaker 1: that potentially you're holdings will evolve to reflect that. You'll
Speaker 1: you'll have more of the companies that are being impacted
Speaker 1: by it. That's right. And when you look at the
Speaker 1: broad industry, I mean there's funds that are as narrow
Speaker 1: as thirty companies and as broad as hundred fifty companies.
Speaker 1: We're at around a hundred and fifteen at the start,
Speaker 1: and we are trying to get the companies at the
Speaker 1: most cutting edge of technology. So we think we are
Speaker 1: going to be in in the companies at the cutting edge, um,
Speaker 1: but we are so managing risk. Our our portfolis roughly
Speaker 1: equally way to spread out, so you get only around
Speaker 1: one percent in the top holding. So it's diversified exposure
Speaker 1: to the themes at this cutting edge. And I do
Speaker 1: think your point is exactly spot on that today it
Speaker 1: was around human health, and then we think over time
Speaker 1: these other sectors, as more companies become public, there's a
Speaker 1: big pipeline in things like the agricultural space and development
Speaker 1: of different food technologies. We think those companies coming to
Speaker 1: market will be green editions over time, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: we have an index committee reviewing this on a semi
Speaker 1: annial basis and we'll look to add companies as we
Speaker 1: think most appropriate over time. Well, looking forward to hearing
Speaker 1: more to guys, and especially as that evolution happens. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us, really appreciate it. Jimmie
Speaker 1: Metzel Uh you know him well. He's been on our
Speaker 1: air a lot. Senior fellow at the Atlanta Council, former
Speaker 1: National Security Council official, and as we mentioned, special strategist
Speaker 1: for the Wisdom Tree. He helped his data in the
Speaker 1: construction of that Wisdom Tree Buy a Revolution index, and
Speaker 1: now the fund that has launched it launched last week.
Speaker 1: The Wisdom Tree By a Revolution funds are thanks to
Speaker 1: Jamie as well as the Jeremy Schwartz, Global Head of
Speaker 1: Research at Wisdom Tree.