Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has acquired a London-based exchange traded fund company in its first big push into Europe, as the Wall Street investor battles persistent outflows from her stable of US funds.

Ark, which manages some $25bn in assets through Ark Investment Management, has bought Rize ETF, which manages more than $450mn across 11 European funds designed around themes including the future of food, cyber security, environmental impact and cannabis.

The deal brings Wood into partnership with Martin Gilbert, a veteran dealmaker and former chair of Aberdeen Standard Investments, whose company AssetCo previously owned Rize. AssetCo’s active equity asset management arm subsidiary, River and Mercantile, will launch its own ETFs on Rize’s platform.