−9.3%
since Oct 6
The idea
I believe the economy is shifting from rewarding what we already know to rewarding the act of discovery itself, and AI is accelerating how many attempts get made. Rather than bet on which lab or biotech finds the next breakthrough, this basket owns the toolmakers who get paid regardless: instrument makers, simulation and AI-for-science software, DNA reading and writing, lab automation, and precision measurement. It spreads across roughly twenty names so no single company carries the thesis, keeps 9% in cash for weakness, and is meant to be held for years rather than traded on quarterly noise.
What it owns
- These companies sell the core instruments, consumables and services that research labs and drug makers depend on daily, getting paid on nearly every discovery attempt regardless of which projects succeed. · Thermo Fisher ScientificIt collects revenue on nearly every discovery attempt worldwide through its dominant position selling instruments, consumables and services to research and biopharma labs., DanaherIt owns a diversified portfolio of life-science and diagnostics businesses that get paid as research and drug production scale, and it compounds by continuously acquiring and improving tool companies., Agilent TechnologiesIt supplies the chromatography, spectroscopy and lab instruments that chemistry and biology labs run daily, plus the recurring consumables and services those instruments require., Waters CorporationIt dominates liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry instruments with high-margin recurring revenue from consumables and services used in pharma and materials research., BrukerIt sells advanced scientific instruments including NMR, mass spectrometry and microscopy that frontier research requires, serving academic and industrial labs., RevvityIt sells reagents, instruments and software that life-science labs and diagnostics providers consume daily, with recurring revenue from consumables., Mettler-ToledoIt makes precision balances and measurement instruments that sit in essentially every lab and quality-control line globally, as fundamental as a microscope.34%
- These companies sell the software platforms that let researchers and engineers test designs on a computer before building them, replacing some physical trial and error with computation. · SchrodingerIt sells physics-based simulation software that lets drug hunters test molecules on a computer before making them, displacing wet-lab trial and error with computation., SynopsysIt sells the design software without which modern chips get designed, and chips are increasingly central to discovery work across semiconductor, quantum and systems research., Cadence Design SystemsIt is the other major player in chip-design software and is extending its simulation-first approach into drug discovery and systems design., CertaraIt sells biosimulation software that models how drugs behave in the body, letting companies replace some human and animal testing with computation.19%
- These companies provide the tools and services that let researchers synthesize, sequence and study biological materials at the level of individual cells and genes. · IlluminaIt makes the machines that read DNA sequences and gets paid per run on a large installed base, providing the raw data layer for biological discovery., Twist BioscienceIt synthesizes DNA to order on silicon chips, allowing researchers to start biology engineering projects with cheap synthetic genes., 10x GenomicsIt sells tools that let researchers study biology at the single-cell level, providing a level of resolution that the discovery economy increasingly demands., Ginkgo BioworksIt operates a platform for engineering organisms and gets paid as companies outsource their biology R&D rather than building internal labs, a riskier bet on the outsourcing trend., Pacific BiosciencesIt reads long stretches of DNA accurately, catching what short-read sequencing misses, and gets paid as discovery work pays for that completeness.16%
- These companies make the test, measurement and sensing gear that engineers and scientists use to develop new electronics, materials, quantum systems and industrial processes. · Keysight TechnologiesIt makes the test and measurement gear that engineers use to develop new electronics, wireless systems and quantum hardware, getting paid on every attempt to push physical technology forward., Teledyne TechnologiesIt makes sensors, cameras and instruments that let scientists and engineers measure and visualize phenomena across industries from oceanography to space., FortiveIt sells precision instruments and workflow software that industrial and healthcare operations depend on, the applied end of the physical measurement toolkit.13%
- These companies automate the handling, testing and movement of samples and chips, getting paid as experiment volumes and production scales increase. · AzentaIt stores, moves and manages the biological samples that discovery work generates, so its business grows as experiment volumes and sample throughput scale., TeradyneIt tests chips before they ship and sells collaborative robots that automate lab and factory work, getting paid as production volumes and automation adoption grow.9%
- Cash9%