An eight-month-old ETF startup won big last month.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on April 2019 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows (excluding money-market funds and funds of funds). Specifically, this article focuses on the 510 firms (10 fewer than in March) with less than $1 billion in fund AUM each (in mutual funds and ETFs). 211 of those firms gained net inflows last month down from 225 in March.

Defiance led the sub-$1-billion-AUM pack last month, bringing in an estimated $60 million in net April inflows, up from $20 million in March. Other big April winners included: Trust for Credit Unions, $60 million (up from $6 million in net outflows); Sofi, $47 million; AAAMCO, $46 million (down from $66 million); and Bramshill, $33 million (up from $31 million).

Proportionately, setting aside apparent newcomers, Innovative led the micro fund firm pack with estimated net April inflows equivalent to 96.93 percent of its AUM, up from negligible net flows in March. Other big April winners included: Defiance, 66.4 percent (down from 67.48 percent); AlphaCore, 50.95 percent (up from 0.02 percent); iM Global Partners, 45.49 percent (up from 2.17 percent); and QuantX, 45.47 percent (up from 0.02 percent in net outflows).

April's apparent newcomers included: Palm Valley, Procure ETF Trust II, and Sofi.

On the flip side, April was a rough month for Aristotle, which suffered an estimated $82 million in net outflows, more than any other sub-$1-billion-AUM fund firm and down from $27 million in net March inflows. Other big April sufferers included: Power, $43 million (up from $25 million); Hancock Horizon, $34 million (up from $12 million); Vericimetry, $31 million (up from $7 million); and RQSI, $31 million (down from $51 million).

Proportionately, RISE suffered estimated net April outflows equivalent to 113.04 percent of its AUM (i.e. how much AUM it had left after the outflows). Other big April sufferers included: RQSI, 78.53 percent (down from 73.61 percent); USAI ETF, 66.67 percent (down from 33.33 percent); IQ Capital Strategy, 57.89 percent (up from 8.84 percent); and Aristotle, 31.82 percent (down from 8.32 percent in net inflows).

As a group, the 510 funds with less than $1 billion in fund AUM each (mutual funds and ETFs) suffered $135 million in net outflows in April, equivalent to about 0.15 percent of their combined AUM. That's down from $696 million in net March inflows, equivalent to 0.73 percent of their combined AUM.

Across the whole industry (M* tracks flows from 775 firms), long-term mutual funds and ETFs brought in a combined $51.004 billion in estimated net inflows in April, equivalent to 0.27 percent of industry AUM. Passive funds brought in $65.543 billion, while active funds suffered $14.539 billion in net outflows. 

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