A Midwestern fund family retook the lead last month among midsized fund firms as the group's net flows climbed by about 15 percent month-over-month, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research firm.

Mary Ellen Bolger Stanek Robert W. Baird & Co. Managing Director, Director of Asset Management

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on August 2025 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like CITs and separate accounts, are also not included.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 210 firms (down by three M/M from July 2025 but up by one year-over-year from August 2024) with between 10 and 99 long-term mutual funds or ETFs each.

Baird (including Strategas) pulled ahead again last month, thanks to an estimated $2.174 billion in net August 2025 inflows, up by $689 million M/M from July 2025 and up by $1.271 billion Y/Y from August 2024. Other big August 2025 inflows winners included:

Edward Jones' Bridge Builder, $1.376 billion (down by $534 million M/M, up by $374 million Y/Y);

Dodge & Cox, $818 million (up by $419 million M/M, down by $164 million Y/Y);

Roundhill, $788 million (up by $372 million M/M, up by $499 million Y/Y); and

Alpha Architect and ETF Architect (which offers ETFs from multiple outside subadvisors), $523 million (down by $205 million M/M, up by $352 million Y/Y).

Baird also led the way for the trailing twelve months ended on August 31, 2025, thanks to an estimated $16.697 billion in net inflows. Other big TTM inflows winners included: Bridge Builder, $15.637 billion; and First Eagle, $6.462 billion.

On the flip side, Pacer led the outflows pack for a second month in a row, thanks to an estimated $801 million in net August 2025 outflows, down by $248 million M/M from July 2025 but up by $801 million Y/Y from August 2024. Other big August 2025 outflows sufferers included:

FMI, $526 million (down by $75 million M/M, up by $504 million Y/Y);

GQG, $458 million (down by $32 million M/M, a $1.034-billion net flows drop Y/Y);

AllianzIM, $375 million (a $404-million net flows drop M/M, a $497-million net flows drop Y/Y); and

Valic, $323 million (down by $51 million M/M, down by $8 million Y/Y).

Pacer also led the outflows pack over the last year, thanks to an estimated $6.346 billion in net TTM outflows as of August 31. Other big outflows sufferers included: Grayscale, $3.856 billion; and Valic, $3.7 billion.

As a group, mid-size fund firms brought in $5.278 billion in net August 2025 inflows, accounting for 6.9 percent of overall industry inflows. That's up by $675 million M/M and up by $2.923 billion Y/Y.

On August 31, 2025, mid-size fund firms accounted for 27.6 percent of all fund firms, holding a combined $1.925 trillion in AUM (up by $52 billion M/M, up by $222 billion Y/Y) across 5,954 funds (down by 95 M/M, up by 42 Y/Y). Mid-size firms now account for 5.7 percent of industry AUM and 13.7 percent of industry funds.

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