Swedish entrepreneur, Christian Svantesson has launched The Single Malt Fund, the world’s first publicly trade whisky commodity fund.

Svantesson’s venture is different from existing whisky funds, such as the WSKY ETF fund, as it will invest directly into the spirit, and thus own the whisky outright, rather than investing into the holdings of large brands. The aim behind The Single Malt Fund was to open up the high-end, rare whisky market to the public.

Svantesson told Business Insider: “It’s essentially a commodity fund, but instead of gold, we buy liquid gold.”

The fund came into existence after 18 months of work by Svantesson to overcome regulatory hurdles. It has now been approved as an alternative investment fund by Swedish financial authorities. It can only legally accept non-professional investments, and the fund requires these to be a minimum of €1000, until 16 February when the investment window closes.

After 16 February, five portfolio managers with close relationships with distilleries and investment bodies will select the fund’s whiskies.

The Single Malt Fund is to be listed on the Nordic Growth Market (NGM-NDX) on 12 March 2018. After this date, only secondary trading will be available to investments. It is capped at €25 million and will close after six years. The target return rate for investments in the fund is 10%, which includes a 2.5% management fee.

Svantesson commented: “Through the fund, consumers can invest and save money in a regulated way, in what for many of them is their greatest passion: single malt.”

As the funds grows, investors will be able to buy bottles of whisky from the portfolio online. Svantesson said: “As some of the whisky could be difficult to get your hands on, we think this perk will be appreciated by many investors and collectors. And they will basically be buying from themselves, indirectly.”

Rare whisky is a growing market. According to Rare Whisky Apex, the value of the top 1000 rare whiskies has increased by 370% since 2010 and the value of the top 100 has increased by 447%. The product has seen approximately 25% annual growth. The most growth has been seen in the Chinese, American and Indian markets.