*By Carlo Versano*
Once every decade, there's a seismic shift in technology ー usually in the form of a new innovation ー that reshapes how we live, said venture capitalist Gene Munster.
"There's always little waves going on in tech, but every 10 years or so there's a big wave that hits," Munster, a managing partner at Loup Ventures, said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar.
There was the smartphone in the mid-aughts, following the widespread adoption of the world wide web. Before that, the PC. Munster said we're now in the early stages of the latest changes in tech: the emergence of A.I., robotics, autonomous vehicles, and augmented and virtual reality. Our lives, he said, will be manifestly different. And Munster's firm recently launched a new ETF to expose investors to that theory.
The Loup Frontier Tech ETF will contain a basket of relatively small, highly innovative tech companies with market caps in the $500 million to $2 billion range, Munster said. [The fund](http://www.innovatoretfs.com/pdf/LOUP_Factsheet.pdf), which launched in late July, was built to reward companies with revenue growth and positive cash flow.
For now, Munster wants to prioritize smaller stocks, but there's one major exception: the ETF does hold shares of Tesla.
Why does the $50 billion-plus company fit the strategy? Munster said Tesla, despite its public dramas, has "the greatest product road map of any tech company." He added that CEO Elon Musk has built a business that is uniquely positioned to leverage renewable energy, the storage of that energy, and the combined trends of zero-emissions and autonomy in automobiles.
Munster's belief that virtual and augmented reality are technologies that will "fundamentally change how humans interact with each other" is not widespread ー VR, after all, has struggled to gain broad adoption, and Snap, which built its first app on the basis of AR, has seen its share price cut in half since its IPO last year. But the Loup Frontier Tech ETF includes stocks like Micron Technology, which makes chips for VR headsets. That kind of diversification ー plays on gaming and autonomy side by side ー is what distinguishes his ETF holdings from typical sector-based funds, Munster said.
One tech giant which may be marking its own seismic shift is Apple. Munster, who was previously a top analyst of the stock at research firm Piper Jaffray, believes the company is on the verge of transitioning from a hardware operation into a service-based company with its App Store, Apple Music, and iCloud. That change will propel the stock higher as investors shift from a "boom-bust" mentality based on the product cycle to a more solid conception of "Apple as a Service."
And what about Apple, flush with all that cash, making a play for Tesla?
Munster said it isn't out of the question. Both companies have a shared ideology based on a love of design; and Apple has long been trying to enter the EV market with its Project Titan electric car.
"It's always been a fairy tale that Apple and Tesla are going to find a way to get together," he said.
For full interview [click here] (https://cheddar.com/videos/gene-munster-captures-tech-growth-with-new-etf-launch).
Phyllis Newhouse, the first black woman to bring a company public via SPAC on the NYSE earlier this year, has launched her second SPAC, ShoulderUp Technology Acquisition.
Phyllis is a serial entrepreneur, retired military officer, and founder of the ShoulderUp movement, which educates and encourages women around the world to reach their greatest economic, political and cultural potential. Shawn Henry is part of the ShoulderUp team, bringing his expertise on cybersecurity to the new company. Both Phyllis and Shawn joined Cheddar to discuss this new venture and how it plans to tackle the issue of cybercrime.
Don Basile, CEO, Monsoon Blockchain & Founder of Bitcoin Latinum, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why we're seeing major crypto investors look to purchase expensive pieces of art, and discusses what the NFT space could look like in the not-too-distant future.
Jack Constantine, chief digital officer and product inventor at Lush, joined Cheddar to talk about the cosmetic company's mass exodus from major social media platforms TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, in the wake of recent reports that Instagram specifically had negative impacts on teen girls. He noted that with teenage girls being a large part of its consumer base and audience, Lush had a responsibility to market its company on outlets that prioritize mental wellbeing. "For us, we've always been a social brand, and it started to feel that social media was no longer offering what we felt we wanted to gain from it," he said. "And then obviously when you add that to the damage that it's causing, it just feels like a combination that we can't continue on with." The company also pulled out of social media platforms in 2019.
Jon Lowen, Co-Founder of Surfside, joined Wake Up With Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss Uber's partnership with cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke, as it's the first time a cannabis merchant has been listed on UberEats across all of its global markets.
Jack Dorsey resigned from his post as CEO of the social media company on Monday and will be replaced by chief technology officer Parag Agrawal. Mitch Rubin, portfolio manager at RiverPark Long/Short Opportunity Fund, joined Cheddar to break down the move and what it means for investors in both Twitter and Square, the payment company that Dorsey also helms. "For the long-term, I think this is very positive news for both companies," he said. Rubin also talked about growing competition in the social media space and why Twitter continues to lag behind other major players.
Jack Dorsey is officially out as Twitter's CEO. Dorsey said in a statement that the platform is ready to move away from its founders and now will be led by current CTO Parag Agrawal.
The ocean is an important topic when it comes to the climate. It plays a vital role in shaping our environment, with rising sea levels causing a 35% increase in natural disasters around the world, affecting 1.7 billion people. Dr. Sylvia Earle has been called perhaps the greatest advocate our oceans have ever had, with Time magazine dubbing her its first 'hero of the planet' and the Library of Congress naming her a living legend. She is also the founder of Mission Blue, an organization that inspires action to explore and protect the ocean. Dr. Earle joined Cheddar Climate for more on the importance of caring for the ocean and its impact on climate change.
