New Conservative ETF Aims To Invest In S&P 500 Without DEI: 'We're Going To Deliver That Mandate'

A new investment fund, the Azoria Meritocracy ETF, is set to launch in early 2025, positioning itself as an “S&P 500 fund without the woke s—.”

What To Know: The fund, created by 29-year-old James Fishback, will exclude companies that use diversity quotas in promotion or hiring decisions. 

"The country just wholeheartedly rejected DEI affirmative action," FIshback said in an interview with Semafor. "We're going to deliver that mandate to the private sector. These practices are not just unethical but bad business."

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Last week, Walmart Corp. WMT became the latest major corporation to roll back its diversity, equity and inclusion — DEI — policies. Walmart joins other companies like Tractor Supply Co. TSCO and Lowe's Co. LOW, all of which ended their participation in Human Rights Campaign surveys and removed supplier diversity spending goals. 

Fishback estimates the Meritocracy fund's criteria will eliminate approximately two dozen companies from being eligible for inclusion in the fund. He also intends to pressure excluded companies to drop their DEI policies through public campaigns and behind-the-scenes engagement. 

According to a report from Semafor, Azoria is finalizing a roughly $25 million venture round that Fishback said is sourced from "two prominent conservative-minded California venture capitalists" and family offices. 

The firm is also planning more funds in the future. One of the planned future ETFs would trade under the ticker "BTFD" and would "buy the dip" when stocks fall sharply. 

Politically Conservative ETFs: The Azoria Meritocracy ETF will join the broader trend of conservative-oriented investment vehicles gaining momentum following Trump’s election to a second term.

The Point Bridge America First ETF MAGA is a currently traded ETF composed of 150 companies from the S&P 500 Index whose employees and political action committees have shown support for Republican candidates and ideals. The fund's top three holdings are ConocoPhillips COP, Robinhood Markets, Inc. HOOD and Vistra Corp. VST. 

Other Republican-oriented ETFs available to investors include the American Conservative Values ETF ACVF, which avoids companies deemed “hostile” to conservative views while investing in firms that meet its conservative criteria. The Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF KRUZ invests in stocks purchased or sold by Republican members of Congress based on STOCK Act filings.

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