Investo launches RARA11, an ETF focused on rare earths and strategic metals, on the B3 stock exchange this Friday. Secondary market trading is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 29th.
Interest in the sector has geopolitical roots. Rare earth elements and strategic metals are essential raw materials for artificial intelligence hardware, defense systems, and high-tech equipment—making them central to the dispute between the United States and China.
"When we look at the next 10, 20, 30 years, we will depend more and more on these minerals for everything that will exist in the physical world, with technology. We are only at the beginning," says Cauê Mançanares, CEO of Investo.
The fund replicates REMX, an ETF from the American asset manager VanEck, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with assets of US$3 billion and an average daily liquidity of US$107 million. As a requirement, the ETF only admits companies with at least 50% of their revenue attributed to rare earth elements.
The partnership with VanEck, however, is not new. In 2022, the American asset manager with US$200 billion under management participated in Investo's US$8 million seed funding round and subsequently acquired the Brazilian asset manager . Since then, Investo has expanded its portfolio of ETFs based on VanEck products, such as CHIP11, focused on semiconductors, and NUCL11, on uranium and nuclear technology companies.
The ETF is comprised of over 30 global companies in the sector. Companies from China, the world's largest producer of rare earths, represent the largest share of the portfolio, with 27.1%, followed by Australia (25.9%) and the United States (20.1%). Canada (11.4%) and Chile (5.3%) complete the top positions.
Mançanares emphasizes that geographic diversification is one of the central points of the product. With China dominating about 90% of the global refining and separation capacity of rare earths, having exposure to producers from other countries is, in the manager's view, a way to navigate the geopolitical risk of the sector.
"You don't need to guess which country will take the lead. Whether it's the United States, China, or Australia, you're exposed in that chain," he says.
The CEO of Investo argues that most investors should have at least some allocation in the sector, given the expectation of growing demand and the strategic role of metals in global geopolitics.
The thesis, he says, is a medium- to long-term one and tends to be reinforced by government incentives to promote the production of rare earth elements. "The responses from countries often don't come on the same day, but we understand that, in the medium term, they end up pulling upwards," says Mançanares.
The Pentagon, for example, holds more than $1 billion in stockpiles of critical minerals and will become, in 2025, the largest shareholder of MP Materials, the only integrated American producer in the sector.
The performance of REMX, VanEck's ETF that RARA11 replicates, helps illustrate the growing interest in the sector. In the last 12 months, the fund has accumulated a 125% gain in dollar terms, compared to 25.5% for the Ibovespa in the same period. Year-to-date, the appreciation reaches 20.8%.
The launch comes at a time of accelerated expansion of the ETF market in Brazil . According to data from B3, the number of listed funds jumped from 125 in May 2025 to 196 in May 2026 — a 57% increase in 12 months.
During the same period, the financial stock practically doubled, going from R$ 61 billion to R$ 121 billion. The number of investors with positions in ETFs reached 860,000 in May — 18% higher compared to the beginning of the year. With 59 listed products, Investo accounts for approximately 30% of the ETFs available on the B3.
According to Alessandra Gontijo, COO of Investo, the origin of RARA11 was organic. "It was a demand that started from an unassuming message on our communication channels. After we saw that the demand was super recurrent and that it made strategic sense, we understood that this would be the best product for the client," she says.
Investo's COO states that the asset manager's goal is to offer a complete range of products to Brazilian investors — from more structural allocations, such as global fixed income and international exposure, to thematic products, such as RARA11.
"ETFs fit together like the building blocks of wealth allocation," she says. With 59 products in the portfolio, she states that the range continues to expand. "Our goal is to be an increasingly comprehensive portfolio to meet different trends and different demands," she affirms.
