A Connecticut ETF shop kept the lead last among small fund firms, even as the group's overall inflows fell by 84 percent, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research firm.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on August 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 excluded.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 476 firms (down by five month-over-month from July 2025 and down by 34 year-over-year from August 2024) with fewer than ten long-term mutual funds or ETFs each.

Neos led the small firm inflows pack for a fifth month running, thanks to an estimated $1.403 billion in August 2025 inflows, up by $128 million M/M from July 2025 and up by $1.27 billion Y/Y from August 2024. Other big August 2025 inflows winners included:

Tema ETFs, $615 million (up by $607 million M/M);

Scharf, $448 million (up by $455 million M/M, up by $452 million Y/Y);

River Canyon, $133 million (up by $53 million M/M, up by $95 million Y/Y); and

Holbrook Holdings, $132 million (up by $5 million M/M, up by $114 million Y/Y).

Last month, AlphaBit was an apparent mutual fund industry newcomer.

Neos also led the inflows pack for the trailing twelve months ending August 31, 2025, thanks to an estimated $7.306 billion in net inflows. Other big TTM inflows winners included: Aptus, $1.631 billion; and Performance Trust, $1.626 billion.

On the flip side, Ark took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $971 million in net August 2025 outflows, a $2.097-billion net flows drop M/M from July 2025 but up by $516 million Y/Y from August 2024. Other big August 2025 outflows sufferers included:

21Shares, $617 million (an $825-million net flows drop M/M, up by $359 million Y/Y);

Primecap, $321 million (down by $127 million M/M, down by $231 million Y/Y);

Akre, $273 million (up by $144 million M/M, up by $110 million Y/Y); and

Edgewood, $269 million (up by $33 million M/M, up by $118 million Y/Y).

Meanwhile, Primecap led the small firm outflows pack over the last year, thanks to an estimated $5.341 billion in net TTM outflows as of August 31, 2025. Other big outflows sufferers included: Edgewood, $4.498 billion; and Akre, $2.288 billion.

As a group, small fund firms brought in $587 million in net August 2025 inflows (down by $3.04 billion M/M but up by $1.283 billion Y/Y). They accounted for 0.8 percent of overall industry inflows last month.

As of August 31, small fund firms accounted for 62.6 percent of all fund firms. Small firms collectively held $309 billion in AUM (0.9 percent of total industyr AUM) across 1,402 funds (3.2 percent of all industry funds).

Small fund firms brought in $508 million in net TTM inflows as of August 31. That accounted for 0.1 percent of overall industry inflows.

Across the whole industry, the 760 fund firms tracked by the M* team (down by 7 M/M, down by 31 Y/Y) brought in $76.536 billion in net August 2025 inflows, up by $1.451 billion M/M and up by $50.437 billion Y/Y. As of August 31, 2025, the industry held $33.688 trillion in AUM (up by $777 billion M/M, up by $3.695 trillion Y/Y) across 43,466 long-term funds and ETFs (up by 84 M/M, up by 575 Y/Y).

For the 12 months ending on August 31, 2025, the industry brought in $710.462 billion in net inflows. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE