Beyond Investing

Beyond Investing was co-founded by Claire Smith and Lee Coates. Both are long-time advocates of ethical and vegan-aligned investing. Smith serves as the primary public-facing executive and has represented the firm's strategy across financial media and industry events. Their backgrounds combine financial-services experience with a personal commitment to animal-rights principles, which directly shaped the firm's product design.

The US Vegan Climate ETF tracks a proprietary index that screens US large-cap companies for compliance with vegan principles. The fund holds roughly 300 to 400 stocks, predominantly in technology and financial services. Confirmed top holdings over time have included Apple, Microsoft, and Visa. The screening process removes any firm linked to animal agriculture, animal testing, fossil fuels, military weaponry, or significant human-rights concerns.

The screen applies a single ethical framework — veganism — rather than the multi-factor ESG scoring used by most sustainable funds. This means the exclusion criteria are binary and absolute: any revenue exposure to animal-based products, animal testing, or fossil fuels disqualifies a company entirely. The result is a portfolio that omits entire sectors, including energy, defense, and most consumer staples, even if those companies score acceptably on broader ESG metrics.

No. Despite the 'LLC' in earlier entity designations, Beyond Investing operates as a registered investment adviser to a publicly traded ETF. It is not structured as a family office, nor does it manage private wealth for a single family. Its business model is an asset manager issuing a thematic public-markets product.

The firm's known operations are limited to the US Vegan Climate ETF, a passive, long-only equity fund. There is no public record of Beyond Investing managing private equity, venture capital, direct co-investments, or separate managed accounts. Its entire investment mandate appears executed through the single public-market vehicle.