
Robeco Next Digital Billion I USD
Emerging Markets Trend solution with high-growth technology companies and tech-enablers
Share classes
Share classes
Every share class of a product invests in the same portfolio of securities and has the same investment objectives and policies. However, their parameters might deviate. For instance and amongst others, their distribution type, currency exposure or fees and expenses might differ. The most common share classes at Robeco are:
a) D/DH shares, which are regular shares and available for all Investors;
b) I/IH shares, for institutional investors as defined from time to time by the Luxembourg supervisory authority.
For more information on share classes please go to the prospectus.
I-USD
D-EUR
D-USD
F-EUR
F-USD
I-EUR
M2-EUR
S-CHF
S-EUR
S-USD
Class and codes
Asset class:
Equities
ISIN:
LU2368226218
Bloomberg:
RONDBIU LX
Index
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (Net Return, USD)
Sustainability-related information
Sustainability-related information
Under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, products can be labelled as either Article 6, 8 or 9 fund.
Article 6 - The fund is not in scope of enhanced sustainability disclosures compared to Article 8 and 9.
Article 8 - The fund does not have a sustainable investment objective but promotes environmental or social characteristics and is subject to enhanced sustainability disclosures.
Article 9 - The fund has a sustainable investment objective and is subject to enhanced sustainability disclosures.
Regardless of Article 8 or 9, the companies in which investments are made must follow good governance practices, and sustainable investments must not do any significant harm.
Article 8
- Overview
- Performance & costs
- Portfolio
- Sustainability
- Commentary
- Documents
MISSING: fund.detail.tabs.
Key points
- This new strategy is a combination of our Emerging Markets and our Trends Investing capabilities and it is the world’s first Emerging Market Technology trend fund that focuses on a new generation of internet users
- Identifies companies that have the potential to be long-term winners in trends like payments, ecommerce, software solutions, fintech, etc
- Evident focus on information technology and consumer discretionary
About this fund
Robeco Next Digital Billion is an actively managed fund that invests in companies in emerging markets. The selection of these stocks is based on fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to achieve a better return than that of the index.The fund selects companies with high growth potential that aim to cater to the previous and next billion internet users. Many of the targeted emerging countries now have a critical mass in internet penetration and coupled with the absence of traditional economic infrastructure, this can lead to the emergence of the next wave of technology companies and value creation.
Key facts
Total size of fund
$ 10,109,316
Size of share class
$ 13,649
Inception date fund
14-09-2021
1-year performance
-8.48%
Dividend paying
No
Fund manager

Michiel van Voorst CFA

Bryan Satterly
Michiel van Voorst is Co-Portfolio Manager within the Trends Equities team. He has a focus on financials/fintech/next digital billion. In 2019, Michiel rejoined Robeco from Union Bancaire Privée in Hong Kong where he was CIO Asian Equities. Prior to that, Michiel spent 12 years at Robeco in several senior positions including senior portfolio manager Rolinco Global Growth fund and Robeco Asian Stars. Prior to joining Robeco in 2005, Michiel was Portfolio Manager US Equity at PGGM and Economist with Rabobank Netherlands. Michiel started his career in the investment industry in 1996. Michiel van Voorst holds a Master’s in Economics from University of Utrecht and is a CFA® charterholder. Bryan Satterly is Portfolio Manager Next Digital Billion and a member of the Robeco Trends Equities team. Prior to this role, Bryan was an investment manager for Robeco’s Private Equity group where he was responsible for group exposures in emerging markets, venture capital and co-investments. He joined Robeco in 2018. Before that he was an investment analyst in Washington D.C. for the Venture Capital Group at IFC, the World Bank Group’s private sector investment arm, investing into technology companies across emerging markets. He started his career in 2013 as an investment banking analyst at BMO Capital Markets in New York, working on a variety of equity, debt and M&A transactions in the Healthcare and Real Estate sectors. Bryan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
Performance
Per period
Per annum
- Per period
- Per annum
1 month
-2.43%
-1.13%
3 months
-6.96%
-4.74%
YTD
2.16%
2.78%
1 year
-8.48%
-6.51%
Since inception 09/2021
-37.66%
-13.79%
2022
-43.32%
-20.09%
Costs
Ongoing charges
Indication of annual charges that are deducted for this fund. This indication is based on the costs over the last calendar year and may vary from year to year. Transaction costs incurred by the fund, any performance fees and other one-off costs are not included in the ongoing charges.
0.97%
Included management fee
A fee paid by the fund to the asset management company for the professional management of the fund.
0.80%
Included service fee
This fee is intended to cover official fees, such as the cost of annual reports, annual shareholders' meetings and price publications.
0.16%
Transaction costs
The transaction costs shown are the average annual transaction costs over the last three years calculated in accordance with European regulations.
0.08%
Fiscal product treatment
The fund is established in Luxembourg and is subject to the Luxembourg tax laws and regulations. The fund is not liable to pay any corporation, income, dividend or capital gains tax in Luxembourg. The fund is subject to an annual subscription tax ('tax d'abonnement') in Luxembourg, which amounts to 0.01% of the net asset value of the fund. This tax is included in the net asset value of the fund. The fund can in principle use the Luxembourg treaty network to partially recover any withholding tax on its income.
Fiscal treatment of investor
Investors who are not subject to (exempt from) Dutch corporate-income tax (e.g. pension funds) are not taxed on the achieved result. Investors who are subject to Dutch corporate-income tax can be taxed for the result achieved on their investment in the fund. Dutch bodies that are subject to corporate-income tax are obligated to declare interest and dividend income, as well as capital gains in their tax return. Investors residing outside the Netherlands are subject to their respective national tax regime applying to foreign investment funds. We advise individual investors to consult their financial or tax adviser about the tax consequences of an investment in this fund in their specific circumstances before deciding to invest in the fund.
Fund allocation
Asset
Currency
Sector
Top 10
- Asset
- Currency
- Sector
- Top 10
Policies
The fund can engage in currency hedging transactions. Typically currency hedging is not applied.
The fund does not distribute dividend. The fund retains any income that is earned and so its entire performance is reflected in its share price.
Robeco Next Digital Billion is an actively managed fund that invests in companies in emerging markets. The selection of these stocks is based on fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to achieve a better return than the index. The fund promotes E&S (i.e. Environmental and Social) characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, integrates sustainability risks in the investment process and applies Robeco’s Good Governance policy. The fund applies sustainability indicators, including but not limited to, normative, activity-based and region based exclusions, proxy voting and engagement. The fund selects companies with high growth potential that aim to cater to the previous and next billion internet users by improving access to technology and innovating with digital solutions in local communities. The investment policy is not constrained by a Benchmark but the fund may use a benchmark for comparison purposes. The fund can deviate substantially from the issuer, country and sector weightings of the Benchmark. There are no restrictions on the deviation from the Benchmark. The Benchmark is a broad market weighted index that is not consistent with the environmental, social and governance characteristics promoted by the fund.
Risk management is fully integrated into the investment process to ensure that positions always meet predefined guidelines.
Sustainability-related disclosures
Full sustainability-related disclosures
Download full reportSummary sustainability-related disclosures
Download summarySustainability profile
Sustainability
The fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process through exclusions, ESG integration, engagement and voting. The fund does not invest in issuers that are in breach of international norms or where activities have been deemed detrimental to society following Robeco's exclusion policy. Financially material ESG factors are integrated in the bottom-up investment analysis to assess existing and potential ESG risks and opportunities. In the stock selection the fund limits exposure to elevated sustainability risks. In addition, where a stock issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement. Lastly, the fund makes use of shareholder rights and applies proxy voting in accordance with Robeco's proxy voting policy.
Market development
The Next Digital Billion Fund slightly underperformed the reference index. There was notable volatility due to various factors, such as regulations in the Chinese AI market and ongoing geopolitical tensions. The underperformance of Robeco Next Digital Billion was mostly driven by our exposure in Chinese tech. April markets in China were brutally shaken by the release of a draft regulation on generative AI by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). This resulted in a broad sell-off of Chinese AI-beneficiaries' stocks, including our mega-cap holdings Tencent and Baidu. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, our investments in Latin America showed strong momentum in April. Taking a more comprehensive view on the region, Brazil as a whole continues to experience extreme volatility, with rotating months of outperformance and weakness. While all those moving parts are clearly shaking up the Brazilian market, we see this volatility as an opportunity to trade around our positions and make profit.
Performance explanation
Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -2.43%. Internet platforms contributed negatively to performance during April, reverting the positive trend that was ongoing for the category since a couple of months. The largest detractor was Baidu, which was down 22%. The online consumer & media sector also made a negative contribution, as the Chinese market experienced weakness across all local stocks in the segment. In the mobility/e-logistics category, the largest holding, ESR Group, experienced a decline of 13% for the month, which contributed significantly to its negative performance. The B2B/enterprise-focused portion of the portfolio continued to contribute negatively this month, as our biggest position in this category, EPAM, dropped 6%. On the flip side, fintech and ICT & enablers made positive contributions, with the former driven by the announcement of two non-binding PE offers to take Network private.
Expectation of fund manager

Michiel van Voorst CFA

Bryan Satterly
We are confident about the strong operational performance demonstrated by our current portfolio holdings, even in the face of potential volatility in the near future. As demand begins to recover, we are taking proactive steps to position our portfolio strategically and capitalize on emerging opportunities in different geographic regions. Within our high conviction approach, we remain diversified across geographies. We continue to be excited by the long-term investment opportunities that our strategy offers and search for new investment ideas even in these turbulent times.