2017 was a great for ARK.

The fund flows information within this article draws from Morningstar Direct data.

ARK brought in estimated net inflows of $68 million in 2017, more than any other fund family with less than $1 billion in AUM. Other big winners last year among the smallest fund firms included: InfraCap, $584 million; Beacon, $483 million; LJM, $460 million; and GQG, $436 million.

Proportionately, a host of the smallest fund firms were apparent newcomers in 2017, bringing in net inflows roughly equivalent to the AUM that they ended up with at the end of the year. Those firms include: AAAMCO, AGF Investments, AlphaOne Funds, AlphaCore, BNP Paribas AM, Caravan, Cushing Funds, Essex Funds, First State, Harvest Volatility Management, Heitman, Highmore, Investec Asset Management, IQ Capital Strategy, James ETF, MProved, NWM Momentum, OFI, RMB Capital Management, Spinnaker ETF Trust, Spyglass Capital Management, USAI ETF, and Vert Asset Management.

On the flip side, 2017 was a rough year for Oak Ridge, which suffered estimated net outflows of $1.14 billion, more than any other fund firm that ended 2017 with less than $1 billion in AUM. Other big sufferers last year included: Equinox, $510 million; Rainier, $393 million; Thomas White, $363 million; and IronBridge, $336 million.

Proportionately, 2017 was an extremely rough year for Estabrook, which suffered estimated net outflows equivalent to 7804.1 percent of its year-end AUM, which means its outflows were 78 times the AUM it had after the year was over. Other big sufferers last year proportionately included: Oak Ridge, 172.12 percent; Elessar, 170.08 percent; Torray Resolute, 165.71 percent; and Rainier, 157.89 percent.

As a group, fund families with less than $1 billion in AUM brought in $3.006 billion in net inflows in 2017, equivalent to 3.29 percent of their combined AUM.

Last week M* released a report about industrywide flows in 2017, and MFWire highlighted the biggest winners and losers among the largest fund firms. Across the whole industry, long-term, actively managed funds suffered estimated net outflows of $6.991 billion last year, while money funds brought in net inflows of $107.096 billion and passive funds brought in $691.589 billion. Within long-term, active mutual funds, taxable bond funds, international equity funds, taxable bond funds, international equity funds, muni bond funds, liquid alts, and commodities funds all had net inflows in 2017, while U.S. equity funds, allocation funds, and sector equity funds all suffered net outflows. 

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