A Connecticut ETF shop kept the flows lead last month among small fund firms, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research firm.

Troy Michael Cates NEOS Investments LLC Co-Founder, Managing Partner

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2025 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like CITs and separate accounts, are also not included.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 474 firms (down by one month-over-month from April 2025 but down by 35 year-over-year* from May 2024) with fewer than ten long-term mutual funds or ETFs each.

Neos led the pack for a second month in a row, thanks to an estimated $804 million in net May 2025 inflows, up by $437 million M/M from April 2025 and up by $555 million Y/Y from May 2024. Other big May 2025 inflows winners included:

Alpha Architect, $581 million (up by $463 million M/M, up by $91 million Y/Y);

Morningstar, $185 million (up by $199 million M/M, up by $209 million Y/Y);

Eagle Capital Management, $150 million (down by $26 million M/M, up by $164 million Y/Y); and

Holbrook Holdings, $134 million (up by $82 million M/M, up by $7 million Y/Y).

Last month, there were two apparent mutual fund and ETF industry newcomers: Accuvest Global Advisors and Suncoast Equity Management.

Neos also led the flows pack over the last year, thanks to an estimated $3.985 billion in net inflows for the trailing twelve months ending May 31, 2025. Other big TTM inflows winners included: Alpha Architect, $3.437 billion; and Performance Trust, $1.982 billion.

On the flip side, Primecap took the small firm outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $338 million in net May 2025 outflows, down by $128 million M/M from April 2025 but up by $29 million Y/Y from May 2024. Other big May 2025 outflows sufferers included:

21Shares, $286 million (a $416-million net flows drop M/M, a $553-million net flows drop Y/Y);

Edgewood, $270 million (up by $79 million M/M, up by $164 million Y/Y);

Ark, $216 million (down by $263 million M/M, down by $120 million Y/Y); and

Champlain, $210 million (down by $33 million M/M, up by $125 million Y/Y).

Primecap also led the outflows pack over the last year, thanks to an estimated $4.989 billion in net TTM outflows as of May 31, 2025. Other big outflows sufferers included: Edgewood, $4.131 billion; and Ark, $3.548 billion.

As a group, small fund firms brought in $783 million in net May 2025 inflows (up by $1.493 billion M/M, down by $1.325 billion Y/Y), accounting for 1.3 percent of overall industry inflows. 215 small fund firms brought in net inflows last month.

As of May 31, 2025, small firms had a combined $292 billion in AUM (up by $9 billion M/M, down by $9 billion Y/Y) across 1,395 funds (down by 4 M/M, down by 78 Y/Y*). Small firms ended the month accounting for 62.5 percent of the industry's total fund firms, 3.2 percent of the funds, and 0.9 percent of AUM.

As of May 31, 2025, small fund firms suffered $2.654 billion in net TTM outflows. 252 small fund firms brought in net inflows over those 12 months.

Across the whole industry, the 758 fund firms tracked by the M* (down by 33 Y/Y) brought in $58.976 billion in net May 2025 inflows, a $104.269-billion reversal M/M and up by $626 million Y/Y. It was the industry's 11th month of inflows in 12 months (after a brief hiccup in April). As of May 31, 2025, the industry had $31.543 trillion in AUM (up by $1.36 trillion M/M, up by $3.27 trillion Y/Y) across 43,407 funds (down by 118 M/M, up by 733 Y/Y).

The industry brought in $659.645 billion in TTM inflows as of May 31, 2025.

*These recent small fund firm and total funds count changes are largely changes of classification, as the MFWire team is making an increased effort to properly label flows for multi-boutique asset managers and ETF-in-a-box shops. 

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