Behind every great passively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) is an index. Sometimes, those indexes were contrived to sell a product. And in the case of the new Morningstar PitchBook GenAI 20 Index, which launched on Jan. 15, 2026, I’d be shocked if one or more ETFs doesn’t emerge quickly.
Regardless of whether you’re starving for the next AI stock ETF or not, there’s something worth cheering here.
Morningstar research is a longtime Wall Street staple. I’m old enough to remember the company distributing mutual fund research via floppy disk. That was before it added stock research and when ETFs were only a twinkle in the eye of asset allocators.
What’s different this time is that Morningstar, creator of many indexes that back prominent ETFs in the equity growth, dividend, and non-U.S. stock space, has standardized what the company calls a “perpetual benchmark that bridges the gap between private tech giants and the public stock market.”
A New Index Focused on OpenAI and Anthropic, Not Nvidia
The index is heavily weighted toward the "Big Four” as it refers to them. That’s not a subset of the Magnificent 7, but a foursome of private companies. Those include Anthropic (19% of index assets), better known for its Claude LLM. That firm is in talks to raise $10 billion at a whopping $350 billion valuation. It is aiming for a late 2026 IPO.
Another top holding (21% of assets) is Databricks, which raised $4 billion at a $134 billion valuation last time out. The company’s revenue grew at about 55% the past year, as it shifts toward agentic AI. That helps businesses create autonomous agents that reason on their own. Which is amazing and scary at the same time. Databricks also appears bound for an IPO this year.
And what fund of this nature would be complete without a hefty allocation to OpenAI (19%). ChatGPT is still the biggest private name in AI, recently valued at more than half a trillion dollars.
Morningstar is a “perpetual tracking index,” in that these private companies will remain in the index after they go public. That’s unique. And, the index excludes hardware businesses, so no Nvidia (NVDA), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), or other chip stocks here. The focus is on models and software. The fund will be valued using PitchBook’s mark-to-market data for private companies. That updates values every day, based on their latest private funding rounds and secondary market trades.
AI is obviously not just about the current slate of public companies anymore, and ETFs leveraging this exciting new index could be just around the corner.
Rob Isbitts is a semi-retired fiduciary investment advisor and fund manager. Find his investment research at ETFYourself.com. To copy-trade Rob’s portfolios, check out the new PiTrade app. His new blog on racehorse ownership as an alternative asset is at HorseClaiming.com.
On the date of publication, Rob Isbitts did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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