A thematic ETF is a fund that targets one theme, clean energy or cybersecurity or ageing populations, rather than the whole market. You get a spread of companies inside that theme, and you carry the risk that the theme itself has a slow decade.
inaam works on the same idea across five themes at once: health and wellbeing, renewable energy, waste and recycling, sustainable agriculture and sustainable consumption, held in one registered fund. You customise the five themes yourself. The subscription is $10 a month and the minimum to invest in the fund is $100. Every company in the fund is named in the app, with the impact data sitting next to it. The fund is ASIC registered, ARSN 691 614 132.
Most people start investing in one of two places. Picking individual companies, or buying the whole market in a single index fund and leaving it alone. Thematic investing sits between the two. It lets you back a long-run shift in the economy without having to guess which single company wins it.
what a thematic etf is
A thematic ETF is an exchange-traded fund that invests in companies tied to a specific theme or trend, rather than a region, say Australian shares, or a broad sector, say healthcare. The themes are usually built on structural change: something the economy or society is doing over decades.
A thematic ETF might hold:
- Clean energy: solar, wind, battery technology.
- Artificial intelligence and robotics.
- Cybersecurity.
- Ageing populations and healthcare innovation.
- Space exploration.
Instead of holding a wide mix of unrelated companies, the fund narrows its scope to businesses connected to the theme it is named after.
an analogy that holds
the netflix way to think about it
You open sci-fi and fantasy and get Stranger Things, Black Mirror, The Witcher and everything else that fits the mood. A thematic ETF does the same thing with companies. You are buying the category instead of one name, because you think the category has a long run ahead of it.
how they work
Like every ETF, a thematic ETF trades on an exchange the same way a share does. You can buy and sell through the trading day, which makes them liquid and easy to hold in small amounts.
The manager picks the holdings against the theme, and they usually fall into two groups:
- Pure-play companies. The theme is the business. Their products, services and revenue come straight out of it.
- Supporting players. Not built around the theme, but they benefit from it in a real way. They sell the tools, the infrastructure or the services that let the theme grow.
The Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK) is a clean example. It holds the specialists, CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks among them, and also the broader technology providers that keep the rest of the digital plumbing secure.
what they do well
- Targeted exposure. You can back a specific area you think grows, without running a research desk.
- Diversification inside the theme. Unlike buying one company, the risk is spread across every holder of the same trend.
- Access. Complex or niche parts of the market become reachable in a single trade.
- Something you can explain. Plenty of people would rather hold sustainability, innovation or healthcare access than a ticker they cannot describe at dinner.
the risks worth knowing
The same narrowing that makes a theme interesting is what makes it risky.
- Concentration. Zooming in on one theme means you do not get the spread of companies a broad index fund gives you.
- Volatility. New or fast-moving themes can rise and fall hard, and they tend to do it together.
- Hype. Some themes get a great deal of attention for a while and do not turn into businesses.
- Cost. Thematic ETFs usually charge more than a plain index fund, because someone has to define and police the theme.
thematic etfs on the asx
If you are investing from Australia, thematic ETFs have grown a lot on the ASX over the past few years. You no longer need a US brokerage account to get at global trends.
| ETF (ASX code) | what it holds | |
|---|---|---|
| clean energy | Betashares Climate Change Innovation (ERTH) | Clean energy, green transport, waste management and energy efficiency. Up to 100 global companies. |
| battery tech | Global X Battery Tech & Lithium (ACDC) | Battery storage technology companies and miners of battery-grade lithium. |
| sustainability | Betashares Global Sustainability Leaders (ETHI) | Large global companies the index counts as climate leaders, screened to exclude direct or significant fossil fuel exposure. RIAA certified. |
| cybersecurity | Betashares Global Cybersecurity (HACK) | CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and the wider security stack. |
| hydrogen | Global X Hydrogen (HGEN) | Hydrogen production, fuel cells and electrolysers. |
Each of these trades on the ASX in Australian dollars during normal market hours. Management fees on these five ran from 0.59% to 0.69% a year in October 2026, higher than a broad market ETF and about what specialised exposure tends to cost. Check the current fee on the issuer PDS before you buy, not on an article.
thematic against broad index
Most Australian investors start with a broad market ETF, something like Vanguard Australian Shares (ASX: VAS) or Betashares Australia 200 (ASX: A200). One trade, a slice of the whole market. A theme fits around that.
where a theme sits
think of it like building a meal
A broad index fund is the base. Rice, pasta, whatever fills the plate. Thematic ETFs are the ingredients you add because you care about a particular flavour. You would not build an entire diet out of chilli flakes, but a bit goes a long way.
| broad index ETF | thematic ETF | |
|---|---|---|
| portfolio role | Core, typically 80% to 90% | Satellite, typically 10% to 20% |
| time horizon | Decades | 5 to 15 years |
| diversification | Hundreds of companies | Often 30 to 100 companies |
| fees | About 0.04% to 0.10% a year | About 0.59% to 0.69% a year |
| examples | VAS, A200 | ERTH, HACK, ETHI |
The real difference is time horizon. A broad index fund is built to track the market for decades. A thematic ETF is a position on one trend playing out over the next five to fifteen years. Sometimes the trend arrives early, the way clean energy did after the Paris Agreement. Sometimes it takes far longer than anyone expected, which is where green hydrogen still sits. Knowing that going in is most of what keeps you patient.
how to read one before you buy
Not every thematic ETF is built the same way. Five things are worth checking before you buy one:
- Is the theme clearly defined? A fund called future technology could hold almost anything. A tight theme tells you what it will and will not own.
- Do the holdings match it? Read the top ten. If half of them are only loosely connected, you are paying a theme fee for an index.
- Where in the world is the money? EV supply chains run through Asia and cybersecurity is dominated by US firms. Know what currency and what country you are taking on.
- How big is it and how often does it trade? Larger funds with real daily volume tend to have tighter spreads, so you lose less getting in and out. ASX daily volume is published.
- What does it cost? Compare the fee across similar funds. A 0.20% difference sounds like nothing. Over ten years, on a balance that is growing, it is not nothing.
Two words worth having straight while you read a fund page: spreadThe gap between the price to buy and the price to sell right now. A wide spread is a cost you pay on the way in and again on the way out. and pure playA company whose main business is the theme itself, rather than one that merely benefits from it..
who they suit
Thematic ETFs may suit you if you:
- Want some growth exposure to a trend you have thought about.
- Hold a view on an industry that goes deeper than a headline.
- Already own a broad core and want to add something more targeted around it.
They are a poor foundation for a portfolio. They work as the satellite around a broad core. And if you cannot say out loud why the theme should still matter in ten years, that is a reason to wait.
how inaam uses thematic thinking
how we do it
same idea, five themes at once
A thematic ETF gives you one theme per fund. inaam runs five inside one registered fund, and you customise them yourself. You can open the app and read every company you hold by name, why it is there and the impact data behind it.
inaam starts from the same place as a thematic fund and ends somewhere different. Rather than buying one theme off a shelf, you choose the five themes and you customise them yourself: health and wellbeing, renewable energy, waste and recycling, sustainable agriculture, sustainable consumption. The themes are customised by you, not by us, and you can change them.
The subscription is $10 a month, which is $120 a year, and it is separate from the money you invest. The minimum to invest in the fund is $100. Sign-up happens in the app, not on this website. How the companies get picked, on financial robustness, purposeful impact and leadership calibre, is written out on how it works, and the five themes are set out on investment areas.
If you have been reading about thematic ETFs and thinking you want something like this but more personal, that is roughly the thing we built. SMSFs and family trusts are welcome too.
what to take away
Thematic ETFs put ideas within reach that used to need specialist knowledge or a large minimum. Clean energy on the ASX, global cybersecurity, the battery supply chain: one trade each.
What matters is understanding what you are buying and why. Themes move in cycles. Some arrive, some take much longer than the marketing suggested. Keeping thematic positions as part of a wider portfolio, rather than the whole of it, is what keeps you in the game long enough to find out which one you had.
