When searching for world-changing innovation, the FTSE 100 isn’t exactly the place investors start. Because while the index is home to many stable dividend payers and a handful of world-class firms, the real innovators are found across the pond.
Take two of the most talked-about companies in recent weeks: Artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (aka SpaceX). Both are expected to go public in 2026 (or perhaps 2027 for Anthropic), and neither will list in London, sadly.
But for investors interested in either, there’s a FTSE 100 investment trust that offers exposure to both (as well around 100 other stocks).
Claude causing chaos
I’m talking about Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE:SMT). While its name hints at mortgages in Scotland — yawn — it’s actually invested in some of the world’s most exciting growth companies.
And that includes the private market too, with SpaceX and Anthropic being two of them. The first is probably more familiar, as Elon Musk’s rocket firm was recently valued at a stonking $1.25trn after merging with xAI, Musk’s AI start-up.
SpaceX absolutely dominates the space launch market, carrying out more last year than all other players combined. As well as making money from commercial launches, it also has the satellite internet business Starlink. This is the fastest growing operation within SpaceX.
Future opportunities include space-based data centres, large-scale space tourism and, eventually, even setting up colonies on the Moon and Mars (with SpaceX providing the taxi rides there and back). All are riddled with complexity and risk, of course, and won’t be achieved overnight.
Meanwhile, Claude bot maker Anthropic has become like the Death Star. Its Claude Cowork AI agent has sparked a massive software sell-off in the past couple of weeks, as it can do autonomous work like organise local files and execute multi-step business workflows.
The [software] selloff, which arguably started last quarter, is a manifestation of an awakening to the disruptive power of AI.
James St Aubin, Ocean Park Asset Management.
Discounted growth
Both SpaceX and Anthropic are examples of disruptive growth companies that Scottish Mortgage has had great success investing in.
SpaceX upended the legacy launch market by perfecting reusable rockets, which reduced launch costs massively. Anthropic’s growing like gangbusters, with revenue reportedly crossing the $9bn mark last summer.
However, while both are exciting growth companies, I’d rather get my exposure to them through the FTSE 100 investment trust. Because I’m not keen on SpaceX’s merger with xAI, which is heavily loss-making. I personally don’t see them as a great fit.
As for Anthropic, it’s reportedly raising $20bn at has a $350bn valuation. So a lot of its growth is baked in at that price.
Thankfully, Scottish Mortgage also has meaty positions in the likes of Amazon, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), ASML, and Spotify. So it’s a vehicle for getting diversified exposure to cutting-edge technology.
The downside, of course, is that it would underperform during a tech bear market (like in 2022). It also has 12% of assets in China, which can be politically unpredictable.
But on balance, I see Scottish Mortgage as an ideal way to invest in disruptive growth. And with the shares trading at a 3.5% discount to the portfolio’s underlying value, I reckon it’s worth considering today for the long term.
