In March 2016, William Rhind, a 16-year ETF entrepreneur, envisioned launching his own ETF shop. Now he's done it, and he's hiring.

William Rhind GraniteShares Founder & CEO

After selecting Bain Capital Ventures as the major investor closing the deal in August of 2016, New York-based GraniteShares [profile], officially launched today.

Thus far, GraniteShares offers two brand new flagship commodity ETFs, one being the GraniteShares Bloomberg Commodity Broad Strategy No K-1 ETF (COMB) and the GraniteShares S&P GSCI Commodity Broad Strategy No K-1 ETF (COMG). Both are 40-Act funds. COMB has an expense unit of 25 bps, and COMG costs 35 bps.

William Rhind, founder and CEO of GraniteShares, tells MFWire, "We are trying to offer products that are differentiated with lower costs (where appropriate,) and with better fund solutions."

GraniteShares is also planning to role out more funds in the near future.

In terms of distribution, GraniteShares is doing it themselves, and Rhind is planning on hiring a sales team. Their target clients will be "RIAs, institutional investors, advisors, and clients that love ETFs," says Rhind.

As it stands today however, Rhind already has several key employees.

Benoit Autier, who has known and worked with Rhind for 10 years and was employed by ETF Securities, joins GraniteShares as head of products. Kristen Winther, previously employed at MSCI is GraniteShares' director of product development, and Jeff Klearman, previously employed at Rich Investment Solutions, serves as the GraniteShares' portfolio manager.

"We have a huge amount of experience and background in ETFs, and we have a vision for a company, not just a couple of products," says Rhind.

Rhind has been involved in the ETF business since the early 2000s, where he was principal at iShares, and one of the first team members in Europe. He was also head of ETF Securities in the U.S., and CEO of the Gold Shares ETF (GLD). 

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