December was a great month for ARK.

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

ARK brought in an estimated $178 million in net inflows in December, more than any other fund family with less than $1 billion in AUM and up from $144 million in November. Other big winners in December among the smallest fund firms included: O'Shares, $117 million; LJM, $102 million; PIA, $72 million; and InfraCap, $69 million.

On a relative basis, setting aside apparent newcomers, ETF Managers Trust dominated the smallest fund firms with estimated net inflows equivalent to 85.6 percent of its AUM. Other big winners last month, proportionately, included: Holbrook, 64.01 percent; Event Shares, 61.48 percent; Cognios, 40.9 percent; and Torray Resolute, 40.77 percent.

There were also a baker's dozen of apparent newcomers (i.e. firms where their AUM was equal to their monthly net inflows for December). Those firms include: AlphaOne Funds, BNP Paribas AM, Cushing Funds, Harvest Volatility Management, Heitman, Investec Asset Management, IQ Capital Strategy; James ETF, MProved, OFI, RMB Capital Management, Spyglass Capital Management, and USAI ETF.

On the flip side, December was a rough month for Absolute Strategies, which suffered an estimated $76 million in net outflows, more than any other fund firm with less than $1 billion in AUM. Other big sufferers last month include: Oak Ridge, $73 million; Vivaldi, $54 million; Hussman, $42 million; and Otter Creek, $39 million.

Proportionately, Estabrook led the outflows pack, with estimated net outflows equivalent to 6,858.65 percent of its AUM by the end of December (meaning the outflows were nearly 68 times the AUM left in the funds when the month was over). Other big sufferers last month, proportionately, included: Footprints, 124.7 percent; Steinberg, 46.67 percent; GraniteShares, 30.81 percent; and Absolute Strategies, 28.24 percent.

Last week M* released a report about industrywide flows in December, and MFWire highlighted the biggest winners and losers among the largest fund firms. Across the whole industry, long-term, active mutual funds suffered estimated net outflows of $7.81 billion in December, while money funds brought in $43.788 billion in net inflows and passive funds brought in $58.363 billion. Among long-term, active funds, taxable bond funds and international equity funds had overall net inflows, while U.S. equity funds, sector equity funds, muni bond funds, liquid alts, commodities funds, and allocation funds all suffered outflows. 

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