An agriculture-focused ETF boutique took the inflows lead last month among the smallest fund firms, doubling its AUM.

Sal Anthony Gilbertie Teucrium Trading LLC CEO, President, Chief Investment Officer, Co-Founder

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on March 2022 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 514 firms (down month-over-month from 519 in February 2022 but up year-over-year from 482 in March 2021) with less than $1 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Micro fund firms had $94 billion in total long-term fund AUM as of March 31, 2022, accounting for 0.36 percent of overall industry long-term fund AUM. That's level with February 28, 2022 and compares with $93 billion and 0.37 percent on March 31, 2021.

237 of those micro fund firms brought in net inflows last month, down from 279 in February 2022 and down from 257 in March 2021.

Teucrium led the pack in the first quarter of 2022, thanks to an estimated $502 million in net Q1 2022 inflows. Other big inflows winners included: Invenomic, $304 million; Tuttle, $236 million; AGRA, $225 million; and Curasset Capital Management, $220 million.

Teucrium also took the lead last month, thanks to an estimated $440 million in net March 2022 inflows, up M/M from $68 million in February 2022 and up Y/Y from $17 million in March 2021 outflows. Other big March 2022 inflows winners included: Invenomic, $138 million (up M/M from $100 million, up Y/Y from $9 million); and Muzinich, $118 million (up M/M from $7 million, up Y/Y from $27 million in net outflows).

March 2022 featured at least three apparent mutual fund industry newcomers: MDP, ROC, and VS.

On the flip side, Cromwell Funds led the outflows pack last quarter, thanks to an estimated $402 million in net Q1 2022 outflows. Other big outflows sufferers included: Liberty Street, $283 million; Deer Park, $160 million; River Canyon, $148 million; and Berkshire, $82 million.

Cromwell also took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $391 million in net March 2022 outflows. Other big outflows sufferers included: River Canyon, $375 million (down M/M from $167 million in net inflows, down Y/y from $15 million in net inflows); and Liberty, $103 million (down M/M from $169 million, up Y/Y from $67 million).

As a group, micro fund firms brought in an estimated $3.319 billlion in net Q1 2022 inflows. That's equivalent to 3.52 percent of their combined AUM and accounts for 2.9 percent of overall industry long-term inflows.

In March 2022 alone, micro fund firms brought in an estimated $770 million in net inflows, equivalent to 0.82 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 2.51 percent overall industry long-term inflows. That compares with $1.18 billion, 1.25 percent of AUM, and 2.47 percent of industry inflows in February 2022, and with $1.334 billion, 1.43 percent of AUM, and 0.85 percent of industry inflows in March 2021.

Across the entire industry, the 791 firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 795 but up Y/Y from 758) brought in an estimated $114.402 billion in net Q1 2022 inflows. That's equivalent to 0.43 percent of their $26.461 trillion in combined AUM (up M/M from $26.219 trillion, up Y/Y from $24.865 trillion).

Long-term funds brought in an estimated $30.653 billion in net inflows in March 2022, equivalent to 0.12 percent of their combined AUM. That's down M/M from $47.85 billion and 0.18 percent of AUM, and down Y/Y from $156.503 billion and 0.63 percent of AUM.

Passive funds brought in an estimated $101.064 billion in net long-term fund inflows in March 2022, up M/M from $80.09 billion but down Y/Y from $114.117 billion. Active funds suffered $70.411 billion in net outflows in March 2022, up M/M from $32.24 billion but down Y/Y from $42.386 billion in net inflows. 

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