The first ever exchange traded fund that tracks stocks of Israeli technology companies has been launched and will be traded on the NASDAQ, the Israeli finance magazine Globes reported Tuesday. It will track the performance of BIGITech Index, a listing created by the American firm BlueStar Global Investors that tracks 65 Israel high-tech companies traded on stock exchanges in Tel Aviv, New York, London, and Singapore. The index, which will be traded under the ticker ITEQ, has a market cap of $72 billion, and features companies in the IT, computer and network security, energy, biotechnology, agriculture, and defense industries.

ITEQ is “the first U.S.-listed index product to focus on the full universe of established, emerging and disruptive technological innovation by Israeli companies,” said Steven Schoenfeld, founder and chief investment officer of BlueStar. “This is a unique opportunity for investors around the globe to access Israel’s dynamic tech sector for their portfolios.”

BlueStar announced the creation of the BIGITech Index in March. Schoenfeld explained to Forbes last week that such a fund is a good way to enable tech companies in smaller markets, such as Israel, to get recognized by investors in major stock exchanges.

In March 2014, Schoenfeld was profiled in The Tower by senior editor Ben Cohen in Joining the Start-Up Nation Just Got a Lot Easier.

[Photo: Miriam Alster / FLASH90 ]