Why ETF Platform Consolidation Will Take Off in 2026

New ETF issuers are cropping up left and right, but what happens when more established firms come knocking?

Product launches have broken records, with nearly 800 new funds hitting markets in the first three quarters of 2025, already beating last year’s total of 746. But nearly half of issuers with at least 20 products bring in a third of their annual revenue from their largest fund. While top issuers may have the resources to market all of their funds, some companies, especially those with a few hundred million in assets or less, can struggle. That leaves the door wide open for consolidation, a trend that could reshape how products are developed and marketed.

“Combining and bringing ETFs together under common ownership makes a lot of sense,” said Ben Fulton, CEO of WEBs Investments, adding that just 20% of sponsors actually have the operational setup to support their products without having to outsource.

Marketing Madness

Some issuers have innovative products but lack distribution bandwidth. By rolling in strategies under a larger name, however, they can garner assets instead of languishing in obscurity. That makes the ETF industry similar to pharmaceuticals, Fulton said, where innovative products are being developed by companies with fewer assets, and merging with larger firms is a necessary precursor to market penetration. Private equity may also play a role in helping smaller issuers better market their products, Fulton added. If PE rolls in smaller firms — or provides a tech stack or a team of wholesalers — there’s more time for distributors to actually distribute.

Some recent examples of platform consolidation include:

• Last month, the crypto trading platform FalconX agreed to buy UK-based ETF provider 21Shares.
• In 2023, Amplify acquired ETF Managers Group’s product lineup, pushing the former’s total assets to over $8 billion.

“There are some great ideas sitting in smaller firms that, if brought into a larger firm or if someone used it as a roll-up, these products would shine,” he said. “But sitting by themselves in a firm with only a handful of products and maybe two or three salespeople, it’s going to be tough to fight through the maze.”