Avantis Investors’ first $100 billion didn’t even take a century.
The six-year-old firm, part of American Century Investments, is a recent success story in the rise of ETFs, particularly actively managed ones. Its growth has accelerated over the past year and a half, doubling its assets under management. Year to date, Avantis has seen about $28 billion in net new money, Chief Investment Strategist Phil McInnis said.
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“The biggest thing within the ETFs that’s different this year is that we’re seeing more adoption in a home office model,” he said.
Small Caps, Big Cash
Over 90% of Avantis’ assets under management are in its ETFs, and about 20% in just one product, the US Small Cap Value ETF (AVUV). That fund is up 9% this year, but the firm’s next-biggest ETFs have been much stronger performers. Its $15 billion Emerging Markets Equity ETF (AVEM) is up nearly 30% year to date, while the $15 billion International Small Cap Value ETF (AVDV) is up about 46%. Further, its $11 billion International Equity ETF (AVDE) has returned 35%.
Active management alone hasn’t been the draw, as the company has also courted fee-conscious investors. AVUV, which is the second-largest fund in the category, behind Vanguard’s passively managed $33 billion Small Cap Value ETF, has expenses of 25 basis points, compared with a category average of 35 bps, per VettaFi data. Part of the company’s growth “is absolutely the vehicle,” McInnis said. “The ETF is a more efficient vehicle than the mutual fund … [and] people appreciate what we bring to the table,” he added, citing the company’s costs, strategies and the services it provides to advisors.
American Century has become the fourth-biggest active ETF issuer, thanks mostly to Avantis:
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AVUV, AVEM and AVDV are the ninth, 13th and 15th-largest actively managed ETFs in the US market, per VettaFi.
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The Avantis International Equity and US Equity ETFs, at $11 billion and $10 billion, are the 22nd and 23rd largest.
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Industrywide, 86% of ETF launches in 2025 were actively managed, and $378 billion flowed into the category year to date through October, representing 35% of all ETF sales, per American Century.
Will the Real Avantis Please Stand Up? Lest there be any confusion, these numbers are all about the American Century-owned asset manager. They are not about Peoria, Illinois-based Avanti’s Ristorante, nor do they reflect classroom technology firm Avantis Education. Most importantly, though, the story isn’t about leveraged crypto-traded platform Avantis. Last week, American Century filed a lawsuit against that particular Avantis, claiming trademark infringement, according to a report by the Kansas City Business Journal. Who knew it was such a popular name?
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