A Florida startup took the inflows lead last month among the smallest fund firms.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on July 2023 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like CITs and SMAs, are also not included.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 512 firms (down month-over-month from 517 in June 2023 and down year-over-year from 514 in July 2022) with less than $1 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Micro fund firms had $100 billion in total long-term AUM across 2,716 funds and accounted for 0.38 percent of overall industry long-term fund AUM as of July 31, 2023. That compares with $99 billion, 2,734 funds, and 0.4 percent of industry AUM in June 2023, and with $94 billion and 0.39 percent of industry AUM on July 31, 2022.

189 of those micro fund firms brought in net inflows in July 2023. That's down M/M from 194 in June 2023, and down Y/Y from 227 in July 2022.

ZEGA's YieldMax ETFs took the micro firm inflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $376 million in net July 2023 inflows, up M/M from $117 million in net June 2023 outflows and up Y/Y from $1 million in net July 2022 outflows. Other big July 2023 inflows winners included: Neos Funds, $88 million (down M/M from $99 million); Needham, $59 million (up M/M from $22 million, up Y/Y from $2 million); Semper, $57 million (up M/M from $11 million, up Y/Y from $48 million in net outflows); Renaissance Capital, $43 million (up M/M from $18 million, up Y/Y from $8 million in net outflows); and Panagram Structured Asset Management, $38 million (up M/M from flat flows).

YieldMax also now leads the 2023 inflows pack so far, thanks to an estimated $510 million in net year-to-date inflows as of July 31, 2023. Other big YTD inflows winners included: Strive, $330 million; and Ambrus, $291 million.

On the flip side, Frontier took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $98 million in net July 2023 outflows, up M/M from $20 million in June 2023 but down Y/Y from $124 million in July 2022. Other big June 2023 outflows sufferers incldued: Chiron, $59 million (up M/M from $31 million, up Y/Y from $2 million); AlphaCentric, $38 million (up M/M from $23 million, down Y/Y from $80 million); Knollwood's Grant Park, $32 million (up M/M from $13 million, down Y/Y from $16 million in net inflows); and One Compass' New Covenant, $29 million (up M/M from $11 million, up Y/Y from $3 million).

Frontier also took the 2023 outflows lead, thanks to an estimated $263 million in net YTD outflows as of July 31. Other big YTD outflows sufferers included: AlphaCentric, $243 million; and Grant Park, $164 million.

In July 2023, micro fund firms brought in an estimated $376 million in net long-term inflows, equivalent to 0.38 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 1.16 percent of industry inflows. That compares with $117 million in net outflows and 0.4 percent of AUM in June 2023, and with $1 million in net outflows, 0.001 percent of their AUM, and 0.01 percent of industry outflows in July 2022.

As a group, micro fund firms brought in an estimated $94 million in net inflows over the first even months of 2023. That's equivalent to 0.09 percent of their combined AUM and accounts for 1.13 percent overall industry inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 779 firms tracked by the M* team brought in $32.39 billion in net July 2023 inflows, equivalent to 0.13 percent of its $25.75 trillion in AUM across 42,167 funds. That compares with $36.029 billion in net inflows, 0.14 percent, $24.973 trillion in AUM, and 42,054 funds in June 2023, and with $12.991 billion in net outflows, 0.05 percent, and $24.166 trillion in AUM.

Active funds suffered an estimated $24.413 billion in net July 2023 outflows, down M/M from $31.238 billion in June 2023 and down Y/Y from $58.766 billion in July 2022. On the flip side, passive funds brought in $56.803 billion in net July 2023 inflows, down M/M from $67.267 billion but up Y/Y from $45.732 billion.

As of July 31, the industry has brought in $70.566 billion in net 2023 inflows. That's equivalent to 0.27 percent of its combined AUM. 

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