Credit: BITKFRAFT/Roundhill
Mentioned in this article
- The Roundhill BITKRAFT Esports & Digital Entertainment ETF (NERD ETF) currently tracks 25 industry companies.
- The current portfolio includes companies such as Activision Blizzard, NVIDIA, Tencent, Turtle Beach, and Modern Times Group.
- The NERD ETF is publicly traded on the NYSE Arca (NYSE ARCA: NERD) as of today.
BITKRAFT Esports Ventures 
has partnered with Roundhill Investments to create an esports-centric exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks a variety of industry-related companies for its investors.
The Roundhill BITKRAFT Esports Index portfolio currently includes 25 companies that are part of the esports and digital entertainment industry, including game publishers/league operators such as Activision Blizzard, Tencent
, and Ubisoft; hardware makers such as Nvidia and Turtle Beach ; and media/streaming companies such as Modern Times Group and Huya Inc .
Roundhill originally established the Roundhill Global Esports Index on December 31, 2018, and renamed it the Roundhill BITKRAFT Esports Index on May 15. Tracking this index is the Roundhill BITKRAFT Esports & Digital Entertainment ETF—also known as the NERD ETF—which launches today on the NYSE Arca, and allows investors to purchase shares in the fund.
On May 17, Roundhill Financial, the company behind Roundhill Investments filed a Form D with the SEC. According to the filing, the company has raised $1.25M USD so far in its latest investment round and likely includes the investment made by BITKRAFT Esports Ventures.
According to a release, unlike most financial products Roundhill Investments will analyze each potential company for its index based in part on its esports “thematic relevance” instead of market cap.
BITKRAFT Esports Ventures was the first esports-specific alternative investment fund (AIF), and it has invested in more than 20 early-stage companies to date. Founding partner Jens Hilgers, also a founder and former CEO of ESL as well as co-owner of G2 Esports
, told The Esports Observer that this ETF now allows BITKRAFT an opportunity to support companies that are already established in the industry.
Related Article: BITKRAFT Esports Ventures Files for $125M Venture Fund
The ETF also allows more investors to conveniently invest in esports companies, said Hilgers, and Roundhill Investments and BITKRAFT plan to focus on drawing in consumers directly. Educating them is also part of the plan.
“We have an ETF here that markets itself more to the consumer than many other ETFs. We will do more direct-to-consumer marketing, but alongside that, we will also do a lot of transparency and educational initiatives,” said Hilgers. “We don’t just want to say, ‘Here’s an esports ETF, invest into that.’ We want to educate people on: What is underlying the ETF? What are the trends? What are the companies? What are these companies doing? Why are they potentially exciting? What are the most important metrics in this space to watch? The team from Roundhill will do a lot of education.”
Editor’s Note: Trent Murray contributed to this article.
