Dear reader,
For years, one of the biggest frustrations for individual investors has been access.
The most exciting technology companies often stay private for years, sometimes decades.
By the time they finally go public, much of the early upside has already gone to venture capital firms, private equity funds, and institutional investors.
SpaceX and the Rise of Indirect Exposure
We saw this firsthand with SpaceX.
As SpaceX grew into one of the most valuable private companies in the world, investors desperately searched for ways to gain exposure. That demand helped fuel the rise of alternative investment vehicles like Destiny Tech100 $DXYZ ( ▼ 0.13% ) and private market funds that offered indirect access to SpaceX shares.
Now we’re seeing that same trend expand into another one of my favorite long-term themes: robotics.
Earlier this month, RoboStrategy $BOT ( ▼ 2.65% ) began trading on the Nasdaq as the first closed-end fund focused specifically on robotics and physical AI. The fund gives investors access through a single stock to a portfolio of private, pre-IPO, and public robotics companies.
Holdings include private companies such as Figure AI, Apptronik, Dyna Robotics, Standard Bots, and Dexmate.
The Private Robotics Revolution
This is significant because many of the companies leading the humanoid robotics revolution are still private.
Figure AI has become one of the most talked-about robotics companies in the world. Apptronik recently raised hundreds of millions of dollars to accelerate development of its humanoid robot platform. Yet most retail investors have had no practical way to invest in these companies.
That is exactly the gap RoboStrategy is trying to fill.
The firm’s goal is to combine the growth potential typically associated with venture capital investments with the liquidity of a publicly traded stock. In other words, investors can buy one ticker and gain exposure to a basket of robotics companies that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Will BOT become the robotics version of the vehicles that gave investors exposure to SpaceX before its IPO?
It’s too early to know.
Bottom Line
The bigger takeaway is that the investing landscape is changing.
For decades, retail investors had almost no access to private innovation. Today, new structures are emerging that allow investors to participate much earlier in transformational trends.
SpaceX helped prove there is enormous demand for this type of access. Robotics may be next.
And if my long-term thesis on humanoid robotics is correct, we’re still in the very early innings.
The AI revolution isn’t just about software anymore.
It’s becoming physical.
And that could create one of the biggest investment opportunities of the next decade.
Here’s to the future,
Matt McCall
Founder, NXT Wave Research
