Some 25 global funds passed their three-year anniversary in 2025, but only four managed a top-quartile return and more failed to beat their average peer (13) than outperform (12), research by Trustnet has found.
In this series, we look at funds launched in 2022 that passed the three-year mark last year. To maintain consistency, we have looked at performance over three years from the start of 2023 to the end of 2025. Previously, we have looked at the US and UK equity sectors, as well as sterling bond funds.
This time, we turn our attention to the IA Global sector. The past three years have been turbulent for global markets, largely due to the US, which dominates all-world indices.
Launching in 2023 was not a bad time, with the market up 59.1% over the three years to the end of 2025, thanks largely to the supranormal rise in stocks related to the artificial intelligence (AI) craze.
However, the young fund that has stood out over this period has been the WisdomTree Blockchain UCITS ETF, up 236.9%. It tracks a custom index that invests in stocks involved in blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies and was buoyed by the rise in Bitcoin.
The cryptocurrency rocketed more than 400% over the three years under consideration and ended last year at around $87,000. It currently stands at $67,519, however, having plummeted so far in 2026.
The exchange-traded fund (ETF) has made almost three times more than the next-best fund on the below list, and registered the best performance in the IA Global sector during this time.
Source: FE Analytics
In a distant second place is the £19.7m WS Guinness Global Innovators fund, managed by Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page, who are also responsible for the firm’s income strategies. Its 83.9% return between 2023 and 2025 was the 15th-best return in the sector.
The 30-stock portfolio is heavily overweight technology (43.5% weighting), with Magnificent Seven stocks Meta and Alphabet among its 10 largest positions. However, it also invests in healthcare (12.8%), communication services (12.7%) and financials (12.5%), with Lam Research Corp its largest holding.
The managers look for companies with the ability to make an above-average return on capital at any stage in their lifecycle, whether early-stage disruptive companies or more well-known businesses. They also use a valuation discipline to make sure they are not overpaying for “overhyped” stocks.
FundCalibre has given the fund an ‘Elite Rating’, with analysts noting that it will be “of particular interest to investors who like to be at the forefront of innovation”.
“The two managers are highly experienced and have developed a clear and consistent process which has proven to be successful,” they said, adding that it will have “a heavy bias in favour of the growth style of investing”.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark over 3yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Dow Jones Islamic Global Developed Markets UCITS ETF (62%) also made a top-quartile return in its first full three years of existence.
It has proven popular with investors, with assets under management of £848m – the most on the list. It invests in Dow Jones stocks that pass rules-based screens for adherence to Shariah investment guidelines.
IFSL Meon Adaptive Growth, managed by Robert Hale, rounded out the list with a 60.3% return over three years.
Outside of the top-quartile funds, a further eight portfolios managed to beat the sector average, including IFSL Marlborough Global SmallCap, which has outperformed despite its smaller companies remit.
Small-caps have lagged their larger peers as the market has driven money into the largest technology giants. Indeed, the fund has very little in tech (4.5%), with industrials (34.2%) making up the largest sector weighting in the portfolio.
T. Rowe Price Global Value Equity also stands out, up 50.4% over the period despite the value style of investing remaining largely out of favour over the past few years.
Analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown included the fund on its Wealth Shortlist last year, noting that it “offers something different from other global funds”.
Manager Sebastien Mallet has 20 years of experience and “follows a robust investment process”, which looks for undervalued companies.
“This style of investing can reward patient investors and could work well alongside a more growth-focused fund or add diversification to a global investment portfolio,” Hargreaves analysts said.
At the other end of the spectrum, there were several laggards on the list, with more than half of funds launched in 2022 failing to make above-average returns in their first three full calendar years.
GMO Climate Change Select Transition Investment was the only fund to make a loss (down 14.9%), while FP Foresight Sustainable Future Themes and abrdn SICAV II Global Impact Equity made single-digit returns.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds have had a hard time in recent years, as higher interest rates and political headwinds have hampered returns.