The smallest fund firms' inflows fell slower than those of the rest of the industry last month.

Murray Stahl Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Chairman, CEO, Chief Investment Officer, Co-Founder

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on April 2021 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 483 firms (up from 482 in March 2021 but down from 515 in April 2020) with less than $1 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Micro fund firms had $93.464 billion in total long-term AUM as of April 30, accounting for 0.36 percent of industry AUM. That's up from $93 billion but down from 0.37 percent on March 31, 2021. And it's up from $92 billion but down from 0.5 percent on April 30, 2020.

285 micro fund firms brought in net inflows last month, up from 257 in March 2021 and up from 224 in April 2020.

Horizon Kinetics took the lead last month among micro fund firms, thanks to an estimated $208 million in net April 2021 inflows, up month-over-month from $52 million in March 2021. Other big April 2021 inflows winners included: Strategy Shares, $108 million (up MOM from $69 million, up year-over-year from $3 million in net outflows); Payson Funds, $76 million (up MOM from $1 million, up YOY from negligible inflows); River Canyon, $58 million (up MOM from $15 million, up YOY from $6 million in net outflows); and Mondrian, $57 million (up MOM from $27 million, up YOY from $3 million in net outflows).

Last month included three apparent newcomers: Acruence, Left Brain Wealth Management, and Sprucegrove Investment Management.

At the end of the first four months of 2021, 1290 Funds led the micro firm year-to-date inflows pack, thanks to an estimated $404 million in YTD inflows as of April 30, 2021. Other big YTD inflows winners included: Horizon Kinetics, $336 million; and Roundhill Financial, $309 million.

On the flip side, last month was a rough one for Needham, which led the micro outflows pack thanks to an estimated $71 million in net April 2021 outflows, down MOM from $12 million in March 2021 inflows and down YOY from $5 million in April 2020 inflows. Other big April 2021 outflows sufferers included: Liberty Street, $55 million (down MOM from $67 million, down YOY from $138 million in net inflows); Roundhill, $44 million (down MOM from $67 million in net inflows, down YOY from $1 million in net inflows); 361 Funds, $42 million (up MOM from $13 million, up YOY from $13 million); and Walthausen Funds, $40 million (down MOM from $2 million in net inflows, down YOY from $15 million).

YTD, as of April 30, 2021, Schroder led the micro outflows pack thanks to an estimated $349 million in net YTD outflows. Other big YTD outflows sufferers included: Muzinich, $309 million; and Highland, $192 million.

As a group, micro firms brought in an estimated $1.21 billion in net April 2021 inflows, equivalent to about 1.3 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 0.96 percent of overall industry inflows. That's down from $1.334 billion and 1.43 percent of AUM, but up from 0.85 percent of industry inflows in March 2021. And it's up from $879 million and 0.95 percent of AUM, but down from 5.36 percent of industry inflows in April 2020.

YTD as of the end of April 2021, micro fund firms brought in an estimated $4.08 billion in net inflows, equivalent to 4.37 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 0.77 percent of overall industry inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 760 fund firms (up from 758 in March 2021 but down from 763 in April 2020) tracked by the M* team brought in a combined $125.673 billion in estimated net long-term fund inflows in April 2021, equivalent to 0.49 percent of long-term fund AUM. That's down from $156.503 billion and 0.63 percent of AUM in March 20210, but it's up from $16.388 billion and 0.09 percent of AUM in April 2020.

Active funds brought in an estimated $31.465 billion in net April 2021 inflows, down from $42.386 billion in March 2021 but up from $21.202 billion in April 2020 outflows. Passive funds brought in an estimated $94.208 billion in net April 2021 inflows, down from $114.117 billion in March 2021 but up from $37.598 billion in April 2020.

In the first four months of 2021, long-term funds brought in an estimated $528.439 billion in net inflows, equivalent to 2.05 percent of their combined AUM. 

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