Roundhill Taps Direxion’s Mazza to Lead ETF Strategy
Roundhill Investments, whose exchange-traded funds mostly cover hot growth areas like the metaverse, sports betting and marijuana, has named Direxion’s David Mazza as chief strategy officer.
Mazza, who led research and development of new products at Direxion, will have the same role at Roundhill, along with other functions as the company seeks to add products in other categories, New York-based Roundhill said in a statement on Wednesday
Founded in 2018, Roundhill has grown to seven ETFs and $630 million in assets under management. It’s seeking to expand its lineup after most of its products were launched into fast-growing sectors and plunged last year.
Its largest fund, the $422 million Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF (METV), lost 38% over the past year, according to ETF.com data. It’s bounced back 14% this year as stocks have rebounded some from 2022, while still seeing more than $15 million in outflows.
Its second-biggest fund, the $132 million Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (BETZ), which invests in online gaming and betting companies, lost 28% over the past year. It made up some losses with this year’s 9.7% increase. Its marijuana and hemp fund, the Roundhill Cannabis ETF (WEED), has been a downer since it launched in April, losing two-thirds of its value in that time.
Mazza, who was the head of ETF investment strategy and research at Oppenheimer Funds and State Street Group, said in the statement that investors are looking for help as they “navigate an evolving investment landscape.”
Roundhill didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Mazza’s new position finds him in a top role at a far smaller firm. Direxion, based in Alexandria, Virginia, trades 89 U.S. ETFs with $26.5 billion under management. Many of its funds seek to outpace a broader market, such as the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL). It has also gotten into single-stock ETFS like the Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 1.5X Shares (TSLL).
As a part of their “next phase of growth,” Roundhill also announced on Wednesday it hired former Bloomberg Intelligence technology analyst Matthew Kanterman as director of research.
Contact Ron Day at ron.day@etf.com
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