MINV vs XITK

MINVDMatthews Asia Innovators Active ETF

XITKAState Street SPDR FactSet Innovative Technology ETF

In short

MINV Most disruptive-innovation ETFs shop in Silicon Valley. This one hunts in Asia ex-Japan, with a manager hand-picking roughly 40 stocks instead of tracking an index, run by a firm that has covered the region since 1991.

XITK Most innovation funds pick a theme and hope. XITK lets the data pick: FactSet ranks tech and electronic-media segments by growth, keeps the top quartile, then equal-weights roughly 100 names so no single giant runs the show.

Stated mandate

MINV The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing at least 80% of net assets in common and preferred stocks of Asia-located companies that Matthews identifies as innovators in products, services, processes, business models, management, technology use, or market development.

XITK The fund seeks to track the total return of the FactSet Innovative Technology Index before fees and expenses. Its mandate targets innovative technology-related companies with robust revenue growth and leading-edge products or services.

Why people hold it

• MINV Actively managed and concentrated: roughly 40 Asia-located stocks chosen by analysts, not pulled from an index screen.
• Defines innovation broadly. Business models, management, and market development count, not just chips and software, so an old-line company can make the cut.
• Matthews has focused on Asia since 1991 and launched MINV in 2022 among its first active ETFs, putting a long-running specialty in an ETF wrapper.etfgi.com
• Benchmarked to the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index, so the stock picking is measured against the plain regional market.

• XITK Costs 0.45% a year, comfortably under the 0.65% median for disruptive-innovation funds, and it does it inside a plain index wrapper from a major ETF shop.
• Equal weighting at each reset gives the hundredth holding the same slot as the first, so results lean on the whole basket rather than two or three mega-caps.factset.com
• Screens segments, not slogans: only companies drawing most of their revenue from the fastest-growing corners of tech and electronic media make the cut.factset.comssga.com
• Trading since 2016, giving it a live record across several tech cycles, and it sits in the upper tier of our innovation-fund cohort review.

Worth knowing

• MINV Charges 0.79% a year, above the 0.65% median for innovation ETFs, where index trackers like KOMP run 0.20%. That is the price of on-the-ground research.
• Thinly traded. Limit orders matter here, and spreads can widen when the underlying Asian markets are closed.
• One region, about 40 names, and a mandate that can include frontier markets. Policy shocks in Asia land harder here than in a globally spread basket.

• XITK Growth-screened tech, equal-weighted, means smaller names carry a giant's weight. Expect a rougher ride than a cap-weighted tech fund.
• Thinly traded for its category and modest in size, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the household-name tech ETFs.
• Cheaper shelfmates exist: KOMP runs a broad new-economy basket for 0.20%.

Full MINV profile⁠

Full XITK profile⁠