Financial Newswire – Binaya Dahal
Investors relying on traditional market benchmarks risk missing many of the structural growth themes expected to drive the global economy over the coming decade, as potential market leaders stay private for longer, according to Ziller Funds Management.
Joe Ziller, founder and chief investment officer of the Sydney-based asset manager, said the advance of artificial intelligence (AI), private capital and founder-led innovation were reshaping global equity markets and changing where future growth opportunities were being created.
“Investors have traditionally looked to listed markets to identify tomorrow’s winners,” Ziller said.
“Increasingly, many of tomorrow’s most important businesses are reaching enormous scale before they ever list. That has significant implications for how investors think about long-term portfolio construction.”
Speaking at an investor briefing this week, Ziller warned that the shift could leave benchmark-focused investors underexposed to some of the fastest-growing parts of the global economy.
He said sectors including AI, digital infrastructure, fintech, cybersecurity and space technology will likely account for about 56% of global GDP growth over the next decade, despite representing only around 32% of today’s equity indices.
“The economics of company building are changing,” Ziller said.
“For decades, founders were constrained by access to capital, the need for significant physical infrastructure and the challenge of scaling large workforces. Those barriers are falling simultaneously.”
He said AI was enabling businesses to generate significantly greater output with fewer employees, accelerating the pace at which companies can scale.
Ziller noted that AI-native companies were drawing around US$3.5 million in revenue per employee, approximately six times that of traditional software businesses.
“The result is that exceptional founders can build globally significant businesses faster than at any point in history,” he said.
“Taking an active view in this share of the market has never been more important.”
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