Performance against wider global equity market
The Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund was launched over seven years ago in October 2017. Key to its long-term track record has been the Fund’s bottom-up stock selection process, against a backdrop of growing adoption of artificial intelligence solutions across all industries.
A leading investment team
1 year
3 years
Since Inception
Fund
Index
Relative
33.6%
18.2%
26.1%
24.9%
98.9%
7.5%
-6.7%
41.9%
Source: Polar Capital, Bloomberg, USD I Acc Share Class, 6 October 2017 to 29 November 2024. Benchmark: MSCI ACWI Net Total Return Index (USD). Past performance is not indicative or a guarantee of future results. Performance data takes account of fees paid by the fund but does not take account of any commissions or costs you may pay to third parties when subscribing for or redeeming shares or any taxes or securities account charges that you may pay on your investment in the fund. Such charges will reduce the performance of your investment. A 5% subscription fee can be charged at the Investment Managers discretion.
140.8%
AI adoption is driving better growth and profitability, whilst also generating investment opportunities that have, until now, been beyond the universe of a traditional technology fund.
Xuesong Zhao,
Lead Fund Manager
Download fund overview
Artificial intelligence is not all hype – it’s a theme the Polar Capital Global Technology Team have been excited about for a long time. The Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund was launched in 2017, anticipating its potential to become the next general-purpose technology, like the internet or the smart phone. They believed AI would go mainstream; they just didn’t know when.
The team believe that ChatGPT and generative AI represents that mainstream moment. Hear more from them on how they expect AI to prove very disruptive, very quickly across a range of industries, and the opportunities that could create.
Capturing disruptive transformation at a portfolio level
The Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund invests in the enablers and adopters of artificial intelligence, grouped into three sub-themes: Applications, Enabling Technologies and Industry Datasets. This ensures that the portfolio achieves comprehensive exposure to the entirety of the investment theme to capture the broad disruptive change that artificial intelligence is driving.
Nick joined Polar Capital in September 2007. He was appointed lead fund manager of the Global Technology Fund on 1 January 2008, and is also a fund manager on the Polar Capital Technology Trust and the Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund.
Nick was previously head of technology at AXA Framlington where he was lead fund manager of the AXA Framlington Global Technology Fund and the AWF Framlington Global Technology Fund between August 2001 and July 2007. Both funds were rated five stars by S&P and received several S&P and Lipper performance awards. Nick graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Economics from University of Hull.
Nick Evans
Ben Rogoff, Co-Head,
Polar Capital Global Technology Team
†Typical range of 50-80 stocks.
1. Source: Polar Capital and Bloomberg, USD I Acc Share Class which was launched on 6 October 2017 to 29 November 2024. Benchmark: MSCI ACWI Net Total Return Index (US$). Past performance is not indicative or a guarantee of future results. ©2024 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rating representative of the I USD Acc Share Class, as at 31/10/2024. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. For more detailed information about the Morningstar’s Medalist rating, including its methodology, please go to: https://shareholders. morningstar.com/investor-relations/governance/Compliance--Disclosure/default.aspx.For disclosure and detailed information about this fund please request the full Morningstar Managed Investment Report from investorrelations@polarcapitalfunds.com.
Fund Highlights
Global, multi-cap portfolio
50-80 stocks, enablers and adopters of disruptive technologies†
AI: Welcome to the mainstream
The breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence represents one of the most exciting developments in technology yet. We believe this is akin to the commercialisation of the internet; smartphones; and the launch of the cloud.
96.1%
71.3%
24.8%
5 years
The pace of innovation and rate of adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly accelerating. No longer an emerging technology, AI has reached an inflection point and entered the mainstream, bringing with it potentially profound disruption.
The Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund adopts a highly active approach to this rapidly evolving environment, seeking multi-sector exposure to both the enablers of this technology, and the beneficiaries, as the investment landscape is rewritten.
Building an impressive track record
Annualised return of 13.1% since launch1
Focused on innovative companies
Embracing tech adoption can promote better growth and profitability across all sectors
Long-term theme capturing disruption
Fundamental and rapid transformations over multi-year cycles
1
Driven by bottom-up stock selection
79.0% active share relative to MSCI ACWI Net Total Return Index1
Analyst-Driven 55%
Data Coverage 98%
View fact sheet
Performance indicators
Sharpe ratio
0.6
Sortino ratio
0.8
Alpha
2.8%
Information ratio (net of fees)
0.3
Source: Polar Capital, Bloomberg, USD I Acc Share Class, 6 October 2017 to 29 November 2024. Benchmark: MSCI ACWI Net Total Return Index (USD). 2. Lipper, 29 November 2024. Peer Group: Lipper Global: Equity Global. Past performance is not indicative or a guarantee of future results.
Nick Evans
Partner
Ben Rogoff Partner
Xuesong Zhao, CFA
Partner
Fatima Iu, CFA
Fund Manager
Alastair Unwin, CFA
Fund Manager
Paul Johnson
Investment Analyst
Nick Dumas-Williams
Investment Analyst
Patrick Stuff, CFA
Investment Analyst
Professional qualifications
ASIP, Institute of Investment Management and Research
Industry experience
27 years
Ben joined Polar Capital in May 2003. He is lead manager of Polar Capital Technology Trust plc and is a Fund Manager of the Polar Capital Global Technology Fund and Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund.
Prior to joining Polar Capital, Ben began his career in fund management at CMI, as a global technology analyst. He moved to Aberdeen Asset Managers in 1998 where he spent four years as a senior technology manager.
Ben Rogoff
BA in Modern History, University of Oxford
Academic qualifications
29 years
Industry experience
Xuesong joined Polar Capital in May 2012. He is a lead manager of the Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund and is a Fund Manager on the Polar Capital Technology Trust and Polar Capital Global Technology Fund.
Prior to joining Polar Capital, he spent four years working as an investment analyst within the emerging markets & Asia team at Aviva Investors, where he was responsible for the technology, media and telecom sectors. Prior to that, he worked as a quantitative analyst and risk manager for the emerging market debt team at Pictet Asset Management. He started his career as a financial engineer at Algorithmics, now owned by IBM, in 2005.
Xuesong Zhao, CFA
BA in Economics, Peking University MSc in Finance, Imperial College of Science & Technology
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
17 years
Industry experience
Fatima joined Polar Capital in April 2006. She is a fund manager on the Polar Capital Technology Fund, Polar Capital Technology Trust and Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence Fund. She is responsible for the coverage of European Technology, Global Security, Networking, Clean Energy and Medical Technology.
Prior to joining Polar, Fatima spent 18 months working at Citigroup Asset Management with a focus on consumer products and pharmaceuticals.
Fatima lu, CFA
MSc in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry, Imperial College of Science & Technology, London
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
20 years
Industry experience
Alastair joined Polar Capital in June 2019 as a Fund Manager. Prior to joining Polar Capital, Alastair co-managed the Arbrook American Equities Fund. Between 2014 and 2018 he launched and then managed the Neptune Global Technology Fund and managed the Neptune US Opportunities Fund. Prior to Neptune, Alastair was a technology analyst at Herald Investment Management.
Alastair Unwin, CFA
BA (1st Class Hons) in History, University of Cambridge
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
13 years
Industry experience
Paul joined Polar Capital in March 2012 as an investment analyst on the Polar Capital Technology team.
Prior to joining Polar Capital, Paul helped manage a private investment fund between 2010 and 2012. Paul is responsible for a number of thematic areas, including game software and automotive technologies.
Paul Johnson
BA in History and Politics, Keele University;MA in History, Keele University
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
12 years
Industry experience
Nick joined Polar Capital in June 2019 as an analyst on the Polar Capital Technology team. Prior to joining Polar Capital, Nick worked at Neptune Investment Management as the Assistant Fund Manager on the US Opportunities growth fund. Prior to that he worked in academia at the University of Oxford.
Nick Dumas-Dumas-Williams
MChem in Chemistry, University of Oxford
Academic qualifications
Passed CFA Level 1
Professional qualifications
9 years
Industry experience
Patrick joined Polar Capital as an Operations Executive, where he provided operational support to all fund management teams at Polar, including the Technology team. During this time Patrick successfully achieved the CFA charter, and subsequently, after a successful 8 months seconded to the technology team, Patrick joined on a full-time basis in May 2021 as an investment analyst with a focus on small and mid-cap companies.
Patrick Stuff, CFA
BSc in Economics, University of Warwick
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
3 years
Industry experience
YTD
26.3%
20.3%
6.0%
Academic qualifications
BSc (Hons) in Economics, University of Hull
Universe quartile2
1
Fred Holt, CFA
Investment Analyst
Fred joined Polar Capital in July 2023 as an Investment Analyst in the Technology team. Prior to joining Polar Capital, he worked at Janus Henderson investors as a Portfolio Analyst on the Global Technology Leaders and Sustainable Future Technologies strategies.
Fred Holt, CFA
BSc in Geology, University of Bristol
MSc in Petroleum Geoscience, Imperial College London
Academic qualifications
Completed CFA Levels I and II
Professional qualifications
3 years
Industry experience
Fred Holt, CFA
Investment Analyst
Fred joined Polar Capital in July 2023 as an Investment Analyst in the Technology team. Prior to joining Polar Capital, he worked at Janus Henderson investors as a Portfolio Analyst on the Global Technology Leaders and Sustainable Future Technologies strategies.
Fred Holt, CFA
BSc in Economics, University of Warwick
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
7 years
Industry experience
Lina Ghayor
Investment Analyst
Paddy joined Polar Capital as an Operations Executive in 2019 from the Global Markets division of Société Générale. During this time, Paddy provided operational support to the Technology team for over three years and successfully became a CFA Charterholder. Paddy transferred to the Technology team as a Data Analyst in June 2024 and will provide expertise on AI implementation while bolstering the wider data analysis capabilities of the team.
Paddy Drewett, CFA
BSc in Economics & Finance, Queen Mary University of London
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
Lina joined Polar Capital in September 2023 as an Investment Analyst in the Technology team. Prior to joining Polar Capital, Lina worked at Exane BNP Paribas as an Equity Research Analyst.
Lina Ghayor
MSc in Management – Finance & Law, ESSEC Business School
Academic qualifications
Completed CFA Levels I and II
Professional qualifications
6 years
Industry experience
5 years
Industry experience
Paddy Drewtt, CFA
Data Analyst
Paul Johnson
Investment Analyst
Patrick Stuff, CFA
Investment Analyst
Patrick joined Polar Capital as an Operations Executive, where he provided operational support to all fund management teams at Polar, including the Technology team. During this time Patrick successfully achieved the CFA charter, and subsequently, after a successful 8 months seconded to the technology team, Patrick joined on a full-time basis in May 2021 as an investment analyst with a focus on small and mid-cap companies.
Patrick Stuff, CFA
BSc in Economics, University of Warwick
Academic qualifications
CFA Charterholder
Professional qualifications
4 years
Industry experience
Lina joined Polar Capital in September 2023 as an Investment Analyst in the Technology team. Prior to joining Polar Capital, Lina worked at Exane BNP Paribas as an Equity Research Analyst.
Lina Ghayor
Paddy Drewett, CFA
Data Analyst
Lina Ghayor
Investment Analyst
Paddy joined Polar Capital as an Operations Executive in 2019 from the Global Markets division of Société Générale. During this time, Paddy provided operational support to the Technology team for over three years and successfully became a CFA Charterholder. Paddy transferred to the Technology team as a Data Analyst in June 2024 and will provide expertise on AI implementation while bolstering the wider data analysis capabilities of the team.
Paddy Drewett, CFA
