The idea
I believe the economy is starting to pay more for discovery than for knowledge, since AI makes information cheap but makes the rate of experiments explode. Rather than guess which lab finds the next breakthrough, I own the toolmakers everyone pays regardless: instrument makers, simulation and AI-for-science software, DNA reading and writing, and lab automation. The basket spreads across roughly 20 companies with no single name dominating, keeps 9% in cash for weakness, and is meant to be held for years.
What it owns
- Thermo Fisher, Agilent, Waters, Bruker, Mettler-Toledo and Revvity supply the instruments and consumables that research labs run every day, so they collect revenue on discovery spending regardless of who succeeds. · Thermo Fisher ScientificIt is the largest supplier of instruments, consumables and services to labs worldwide, so it collects revenue on nearly every discovery attempt regardless of outcome., DanaherIt owns a collection of life-science and diagnostics businesses that scale with research and drug production, and it keeps expanding its toolkit through acquisitions and improvements., Agilent TechnologiesIt supplies the chromatography, spectroscopy and lab instruments that chemistry and biology labs run daily, plus the recurring consumables those machines require., BrukerIt sells the heavy scientific instruments, NMR, mass spec and advanced microscopy, that frontier research depends on for its most ambitious work., Waters CorporationIt dominates liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, the core tools for determining what a molecule actually is, with high-margin recurring revenue from its installed base., Mettler-ToledoIt makes the balances and precision measurement gear that sit in essentially every lab and quality-control line globally, since every experiment starts with weighing exactly., RevvityIt sells the reagents, instruments and software that life-science labs and diagnostics providers consume as biology research and testing accelerates.34%
- Schrodinger, Synopsys, Cadence and Certara sell the software that lets researchers and engineers test designs on computers before building them, displacing some wet-lab and animal testing with computation. · SchrodingerIt sells physics-based simulation software that lets drug hunters test molecules on a computer before making them, the discovery economy in its purest form., Cadence Design SystemsIt is the other half of the chip-design software duopoly and is expanding simulation-first approaches into drug discovery and systems design beyond semiconductors., SynopsysIt sells the software without which modern chips get designed, and semiconductor design activity keeps growing as computing moves into new domains., CertaraIt sells biosimulation software that models how drugs behave in the body, letting companies replace some human and animal testing with computation.19%
- Companies that provide the infrastructure and tools for building and validating new products and services in the discovery economy. · IlluminaIt makes the machines that read DNA, the raw data layer of biological discovery, and gets paid per sequencing run on a large installed base., Twist BioscienceIt writes DNA to order on silicon chips, so every attempt to engineer biology can start with cheap synthetic genes rather than natural extraction., 10x GenomicsIt sells the tools that let researchers study biology one cell at a time, a level of resolution the discovery economy increasingly demands as research advances., Ginkgo BioworksIt runs a platform for engineering organisms, getting paid as companies outsource their biology R&D rather than building and staffing their own labs., Pacific BiosciencesIt reads long stretches of DNA accurately, catching what short-read sequencing misses, and discovery work increasingly pays for that completeness.16%
- Keysight, Teledyne and Fortive make the test, measurement and precision instruments that engineers and scientists use to develop new electronics, materials, quantum hardware and connected systems. · Keysight TechnologiesIt makes the test and measurement gear engineers use to develop new electronics, wireless systems and quantum hardware, getting paid on every technology advancement attempt., Teledyne TechnologiesIt makes the sensors, cameras and instruments that let scientists and engineers measure what they couldn't before, from ocean floors to orbit., FortiveIt sells precision instruments and workflow software that industrial and healthcare operations depend on to measure and control physical processes.13%
- Azenta and Teradyne automate the storage, handling and testing of biological samples and manufactured parts, so higher attempt volumes and production scale drive more business. · AzentaIt stores, moves and manages the biological samples that discovery work generates, so rising experiment volumes drive more business for automated sample management., TeradyneIt tests chips before they ship and sells collaborative robots that automate lab and factory work, two ways of getting paid as manufacturing and experimentation scale.9%
- Cash9%