Asset manager Invesco has offered the first internationally focused strategy in its QQQ innovation suite with an exchange-traded fund that invests in companies outside the U.S.

On 23 September the U.S. fund manager said in a statement that it is launching the Invesco Nasdaq International Innovators 100 ETF (QQI). Brian Hartigan, global head of ETFs & index investments at Invesco, said in a statement: “This launch reinforces our commitment to providing investors with a comprehensive view of innovation across geographies, market capitalizations and investment objectives through the largest suite of Nasdaq index-tracking ETFs, with more than $500bn in assets under management.”

In 1999 Invesco pioneered investing in the Nasdaq-100 with its QQQ ETF, tracking this index which includes the largest non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq. In 2020 QQQ reached $100bn in assets under management, and had $475bn on 22 October 2026 according to YCharts. When QQQ celebrated its 25th anniversary in March 2024, Invesco said the ETF had a total cumulative return of 839.54% compared with 489.24% for the S&P 500. The launch of QQI has taken the number of ETFs in the QQQ suite to 11.

Paul Schroeder, director & QQQ product strategist at Invesco, told Markets Media that he has been at Invesco for nearly 12 years and the asset manager has grown its ETF suite to “one of the most well-rounded ETF lineups in the industry globally,” and the firm is the fourth largest ETF provider in the world. He added: “That being said, having a Nasdaq-based international ETF was the one wish list item that I did have, which has been successfully fulfilled this year. It’s a fantastic ETF and I am really happy we were able to add it to our lineup as it fills a gap in the market.”

Schroeder said there has been a “lot of interest” in QQI since the ETF launched. He said international markets have performed well over the past 12 to 18 months, particularly emerging markets, so there has been interest in non-U.S. equities from clients. For example, before QQI launched Invesco had seen more interest in its S&P International Developed Momentum ETF.

“However, the primary reason we launched QQI was to fill a gap in the innovation suite,” Schroeder added. “The suite was U.S. equity focused with just a small amount of international exposure within QQQ, but primarily through ADRs.”

American depository receipts (ADRs) are U.S. dollar-denominated certificates issued by a U.S. depositary bank to represent shares of non-U.S. companies. They are listed on U.S. exchanges and allow overseas equities to be traded in the same way as U.S. domestic shares.

Schroeder added that Invesco wanted to launch an international ETF with the same pedigree and methodology as QQQ so that it includes strong, fundamentally sound companies that are tilted towards innovation and growth focused. He added that the ETF focuses on large and mid-cap companies and is reviewed quarterly.

One difference in the methodology is that many international companies do not use Nasdaq as their primary listing so Schroeder added that Invesco wanted to ensure that the ETF was not restricted by this listing requirement. He continued that the primary criteria for the selection of the 100 companies in QQI are research and development as a percentage of annual sales, two metrics for gross margin, two metrics for revenue and the innovator score. QQI has the ability to move between international developed and emerging markets and there are no country restrictions. Tech companies currently have the heaviest weighting of between 40% and 45%, with Taiwan, China, Korea as the largest country exposures.

“The thing I like most about QQI is that when an advisor allocates to international, they typically have to choose between international developed versus emerging markets, or take single country or single sector risk if they want a more targeted exposure,” said Schroeder. “QQI allows investors to invest internationally under one ticker symbol in both emerging markets and developed, and have sector exposures, while still having a focus on newer economy firms.”

ETF growth

Invesco has had inflows of more than $75bn across its ETF line up so far this year, which is a record according to Schroeder. He expects the industry to have another year of record inflows.

At the end of September, U.S.-listed ETFs had assets of $16.2 trillion according to a report from ETFGI, an independent ETF research and consultancy firm. Year-to-date net inflows of $1.56 trillion were beating the full-year net inflow record of $1.5 trillion last year. ETFGI said: “Investor demand for ETFs remains unprecedented, with the industry already establishing a new annual net inflow record before the end of the third quarter.”

The US ETF industry continues to exhibit a high degree of concentration, with the three largest providers, iShares, Vanguard, and State Street SPDR, collectively accounting for 70% of industry assets, according to ETFGI.

“The breadth of inflows across equity, fixed income, and active ETFs demonstrates that investors continue to use ETFs as core portfolio building blocks across a wide range of asset classes and investment strategies,” added ETFGI. “The continued acceleration in flows to active ETFs suggests investors increasingly value the combination of active management and the tax efficiency, transparency, and liquidity offered by the ETF structure.”

Active ETFs were the fastest growing sector in the market in 2025 and Schroeder expects that this trend is not going away. For example, Invesco has been moving a lot of active strategies into an ETF wrapper, particularly in fixed income. ETFGI said active ETFs accounted for nearly 39% of all industry net inflows in the U.S. in the year to date.

🌎 The active ETF revolution just hit another record. At end of August

💰 Global active ETF assets reached $2.72 trillion 📈 Assets have grown 42.6% in just 8 months 🚀 Investors have added a record $663.6 Bn YTD 🔥 77 consecutive months of net inflowshttps://t.co/oisUAVok0L

— Deborah Fuhr, ETFGI (@deborahfuhr) September 25, 2026

“The most interesting trend has been in the fixed income market as U.S. yields continue to rise,” said Schroeder. “We have seen a lot of people move into longer duration fixed income ETFs.”

ETF share classes

Dimensional Fund Advisors launched the first actively managed share class ETF in the U.S. in March this year. Financial services group BBH said in its 2026 Global ETF Investor Survey that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of Dimensional adding ETF share classes broke a long-running market impasse. Previously, only Vanguard had been able to create ETF share classes from its mutual funds via a unique patent which lapsed in 2023, according to the report.

BBH expected the decision to trigger the creation of a wave of new ETF share classes of mutual funds. The Investment Company Institute said in a blog that ETF share class adoption is gaining traction across the industry.

The ICI added that in early September, 14 new ETF share classes of existing mutual funds were being offered pursuant to new relief by six asset managers, with assets already reaching roughly $500m.

“Perhaps more notable than the numbers themselves is the range of strategies involved,” added ICI. “Early offerings span areas including microcap equities, short-term and municipal bonds, developed international equities, and thematic strategies.”

However, the blog also noted that many firms remain in the early stages of determining whether an ETF share class makes sense for their business and, if so, which funds are best suited to the structure.