Berlin-based WealthTech NAO and ARK Invest Europe partner on ARK Private Innovation ELTIF

External – This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.

The ARK Private Innovation ELTIF pursues a thematic innovation strategy and aims to invest primarily in mid‑to‑late stage growth companies that are not yet publicly listed. This partnership opens up the Private Growth & Late‑Stage Tech segment for retail investors, previously dominated by institutional investors, therefore marking a structural shift in investment opportunity access. The investment strategy focuses on technologies in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy Storage, Multiomics, and Blockchain. In the US, ARK has been managing a venture fund with a similar focus since 2022, with investments in companies such as OpenAI, SpaceX, Revolut, xAI, Epic Games, and Anthropic.

Robin Binder, Founder and CEO of NAO:

“Access to high‑growth private companies has long been closed to retail investors; high minimum investment amounts and regulatory hurdles made it nearly impossible. Together with ARK Invest, we are fundamentally changing this: NAO users gain access to professionally managed Private Innovation starting from €1. This is exactly what NAO was founded for – institutional quality for everyone.”

Cathie Wood, Founder, CEO and CIO of ARK Invest:

“Over the past decade we have seen more of the value creation in innovation take place before companies reach the public markets. This launch is designed to open up that part of the market to a much broader set of European and Global investors in a regulated format.”

The fund, structured as an Irish ELTIF 2.0, invests primarily directly into companies, avoiding additional fee layers from third‑party intermediary structures. The investment strategy targets approximately 80 percent allocation to private companies and 20 percent to publicly listed securities. As a semi‑liquid “evergreen” structure, the fund offers quarterly redemption opportunities of up to 5 percent of net asset value.

Stuart Forbes, Head of ARK Invest Europe and Global Head of Distribution at ARK Invest:

“With this launch we are opening up this part of the market in a regulated format to a significantly broader investor base in Europe. The partnership with NAO goes one step further: it enables retail investors to access companies from as little as €1 that were previously closed to them.”

The partnership adds another building block to NAO's curated offering of private and alternative investments. For ARK Invest Europe, it means reaching a digitally savvy European investor base. Both partners have strong potential in combining ARK's innovation expertise with NAO's platform technology to make Private Innovation strategies a permanent part of diversified portfolios.