PureFunds ISE Cyber Security, the first and fastest growing Cyber Security ETF in the world worth $1.2B is managed by a 30-year-old Andrew Chanin all by himself.
"It was timing and a whole bunch of other things that I don't know about and that I wish I could bottle." The 30-year-old owner of the PureFunds ISE Cyber Security (HACK) still is surprised by its growth.
He is Andrew Chanin. He started PureFunds in November 2012 with the ticker symbol HACK. After eight months, HACK drew out $1.4B making it one of the fastest growing ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) in the history, Financial Post broke the news.
Though it has lost $2B due to the horrible decline of technology stocks recently Nasdaq analysts still see HACK as a profitable venture.
Cyber security is an important and rising area for future investment at this point since vulnerability of data is getting worse and people will continue to endure its effect over time, Seeking Alpha reported.
Today, with $1.2B, HACK slots in $9M fee per year, backed by PureFunds, ETF Managers, ISE and other providers.
Although Chanin has been currently contending against State Street, Vanguard and BlackRock, he is the first to sell data security ETF.
Just in time after HACK was launched in November 12, the Sony Pictures Entertainment cyber attack news was disclosed in November 24; divulged emails, conversations, Social Security numbers, payments and salary details daunts other large companies' data security as well. Simultaneously, HACK stocks went up and remained at the peak since then.
Around 2012, the hacking issue became a hot topic. That time, companies only fell on two categories which are firewalls and consulting. Only ISE (International Securities Exchange) classified computer security.
ISE approached Chanin at PureFunds and published the process on September 2014. That is when index managers started to dig the cyber security industry and begun indexing PureFunds.
Chanin first worked at Kellogg; a brokerage firm in New York. He had marketed ETFs and maintained liquidity of funds. He eventually moved to Cohen Capital Group after two years.
Coincidentally, an ETF issuer gave him an idea of building his own. Having that in mind, he and his work mate, Paul Zimnisky left the company and founded PureFunds.
They came up with three ETFs. Chanin selected International Securities Exchange to formulate indexes. But it struggled to pull investors and liquidated in 2014. Only the third one survived with $3.6M in assets.
Starting an ETF is risky and challenging. There are a lot of crashes along with directives and contractors that varies rapidly. The previous ETFs had liquidated due to lack of assets to support its expenses.
Zimnisky left him. And he hadn't been drawing a salary since PureFunds started. But people from ISE were supporting him.
Last month, Chanin launched two other ETFs, IPAY and BDAT. He is now planning to hire employees.
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