What Research Affiliates does

Research Affiliates, LLC is a privately held, research-intensive asset management firm founded in 2002 by Rob Arnott and headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with a regional headquarters in London (Research Affiliates Global Advisors (Europe) Ltd). The firm pioneered the Fundamental Index (RAFI) methodology, a rules-based, non-market-cap-weighted indexing approach that selects and weights securities by accounting-based fundamentals (sales, cash flow, dividends, book value) to avoid the structural buy-high/sell-low dynamic of capitalization weighting. Its proprietary technology stack extends beyond RAFI to include the Current Constituent CAPE (CC CAPE) valuation model, multi-factor and single-factor index suites integrating value/quality/momentum, the Asset Allocation Interactive (AAI) tool covering 140+ assets across 40+ countries, the Research Affiliates Deletions Index (NIXT), and a natural language processing research stream applied to SEC filings. Patents and registered trademarks protect the underlying methodology and brands.

Name

Research Affiliates

Legal name

Research Affiliates, LLC

Website

https://researchaffiliates.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Research Affiliates is a private, Newport Beach–based asset manager that develops and licenses its proprietary Fundamental Index (RAFI) methodology and asset allocation research to global financial institutions including BlackRock and FTSE Russell, serving institutional investors worldwide through mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs, and commingled accounts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Smart Beta Indexing and Asset Allocation Research

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Multi-Asset Solutions for Institutional (Pensions/Endowments/Sovereigns) (FSAAAJAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Equity Research (FSACAGAA), Investor Education, Research & Portfolio Analytics Services (Retail) (FSAAAAAO)

Keywords

• Smart beta indexing
• Fundamental index strategies
• Asset allocation research
• Factor investing
• Investment methodology licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Newport Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Intellectual Property Licensing: Research Affiliates licenses its Fundamental Index (RAFI) methodology, proprietary indices, and investment models to financial institutions including BlackRock, Russell Investments, and others. Partners use these licensed methodologies to launch and manage mutual funds, ETFs, and separately managed accounts, paying asset-based licensing fees to Research Affiliates.
2. Sub-Advisory Services: Research Affiliates serves as a sub-adviser to investment advisers, providing ongoing research and portfolio management support for funds and mandates that use its strategies. Compensation is asset-based fees as a sub-adviser.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Research Affiliates develops proprietary investment methodologies — anchored by the RAFI Fundamental Index approach, which weights securities by accounting fundamentals (sales, cash flow, dividends, book value) rather than market capitalization — and licenses these strategies to global financial institutions such as BlackRock, Russell Investments, FTSE Russell, and Source. The firm also provides sub-advisory services, valuation tools (CC CAPE), asset allocation analytics (AAI), and published research spanning factor investing, smart beta, and multi-asset portfolio construction. Revenue is generated primarily through asset-based licensing fees and sub-advisory fees tied to the AUM of partner-distributed products.

Product overview

Research Affiliates is a research-intensive asset management firm founded in 2002, offering a suite of investment solutions centered around its proprietary Fundamental Index (RAFI) methodology. The company's core offerings include the RAFI index series, smart beta strategies, and the Asset Allocation Interactive tool. Products span multiple delivery mechanisms including mutual funds, ETFs, separately managed accounts, and commingled accounts, all leveraging the firm's research-based approach to factor investing. Key product families include the FTSE RAFI Index Series (developed with FTSE Russell), the Systematic Global Active Equity UCITS Fund (with Russell Investments), thematic strategies like RAFI ESG, and analytical tools like the Current Constituent CAPE valuation model. The firm serves institutional clients, wealth managers, and individual investors globally through partnerships with leading financial institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RAFI: Research Affiliates Fundamental Index - a smart beta indexing methodology that weights stocks by fundamental measures rather than market capitalization.

Products and services

• Research Affiliates Fundamental Index (RAFI) A rules-based, non-cap-weighted equity index methodology that selects and weights stocks by accounting fundamentals (sales, cash flow, dividends, book value) rather than market capitalization, designed to avoid cap weighting's concentration risk and buy-high/sell-low dynamic. Licensed to financial institutions globally for use in mutual funds, ETFs, and SMAs.
• Asset Allocation Interactive (AAI) An interactive online tool providing expected returns and volatilities for 140+ assets across 40+ countries, enabling institutional investors to model and assess capital market expectations for asset allocation. Available at interactive.researchaffiliates.com.
• FTSE RAFI Index Series Fundamental index series co-developed with FTSE Russell, weighting companies by accounting measures (book value, cash flow, dividends, sales) rather than market capitalization. Includes FTSE RAFI, FTSE RAFI Low Vol (2014), and FTSE RAFI Equity Income (2015) sub-series. As of 2015, 63 mutual funds and ETFs tracked these indices with over US$100 billion in AUM.
• Research Affiliates Deletions Index (NIXT) An innovative index that capitalizes on the long-term price reversal of companies removed from market capitalization weighted indices, providing a rules-based strategy to harvest reconstitution alpha.
• RAFI Multi-Factor and Single-Factor Index Suite A suite of multi-factor and single-factor indices that combine value, quality, and momentum signals through rules-based frameworks for global equity markets, supporting institutional factor exposure implementation.
• Systematic Global Active Equity UCITS Fund A rules-based global equity fund utilizing Research Affiliates' proprietary model focusing on value, quality, and momentum factors, launched in partnership with Russell Investments for European institutional investors.
• Fundamental Growth Indexing A fundamental approach to growth investing that selects stocks based on growth in sales, profits, and innovation and weights them by their contribution to that growth rather than their market price.
• RAFI ESG Strategy An ESG investment strategy that complements traditional ESG metrics with measures of financial discipline and diversity, designed to improve return potential while incorporating sustainability and governance factors.
• Research Affiliates Cap-Weighted US ETF (RAUS) The first directly issued ETF from Research Affiliates, launched by RAFI Indices, LLC in September 2025 using the firm's index methodology.
• Institutional SMAs and Commingled Accounts Direct institutional access to Research Affiliates' investment strategies through separately managed accounts and commingled vehicles, distributed through the firm's direct sales team in Newport Beach and London.

Quantifiable outcome

• Fundamental-selection Cap-weighted (FS-CW) index has outperformed the most popular cap-weighted equity indices around the world over the last 30 years while reducing risk, with slightly lower turnover and transaction costs.
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• BlackRock CanadacoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 6 August 2026Research Affiliates, LLC disclosed it would cease providing inputs to certain FTSE indices starting September 2026, prompting BlackRock Canada to transition five iShares ETFs from FTSE indices to new RAFI Fundamental Select indices provided by RAFI Indices, LLC. This reflects a long-standing product relationship where BlackRock Canada distributes RAFI-based ETF products. The transition is effective August 6, 2026.
• Russell InvestmentscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 October 2025Research Affiliates partnered with Russell Investments to launch the Systematic Global Active Equity UCITS Fund in London in October 2025. The fund utilizes Research Affiliates' proprietary investment model focusing on value, quality, and momentum for global equity opportunities. Russell Investments oversees fund management and distribution while Research Affiliates provides the security selection model. This represents a co-development and co-GTM partnership.
• Source (ETF Provider)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 June 2015Source, one of Europe's largest ETF issuers, was the first ETF provider to license the FTSE RAFI Equity Income Index Series developed by FTSE Russell and Research Affiliates. Source contributed to the development of the indexes in response to investor enquiries for a better-structured dividend-focused strategy and launched a family of ETFs linked to the benchmarks in Europe.
• FTSE Russell / FTSE GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005Research Affiliates and FTSE Russell have a long-standing partnership dating back to 2005 when they launched the FTSE RAFI index series. The partnership has expanded to include FTSE RAFI Low Vol series (2014), FTSE RAFI Equity Income Index Series (2015), and Russell Fundamental series. As of 2015, there were 63 mutual funds and ETFs tracking their indices with over US$100B in AUM. The partnership represents the leading range of smart beta solutions in the industry.
• PIMCOcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRob Arnott serves as co-portfolio manager on the PIMCO All Asset and All Asset All Authority funds and the PIMCO RAE™ funds, representing a deep co-investment management partnership between Research Affiliates and PIMCO.
• RAFI Indices, LLCcoreTechnology or IntegrationRAFI Indices, LLC is the index company of Research Affiliates, LLC. It develops and provides the RAFI Fundamental Select indices (used by BlackRock Canada) and launched the Research Affiliates Deletions Index (NIXT). It represents the proprietary index development arm of the firm.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Dimensional Fund Advisors: Dimensional is the most directly comparable firm: an academic-led, multi-decade factor/smart beta asset manager with proprietary fundamental-weighted strategies, extensive research output, and global institutional and advisor distribution. It pioneered many of the same value/return predictability insights Research Affiliates builds upon.
• FTSE Russell (LSEG): FTSE Russell is both Research Affiliates' long-standing co-development partner (since 2005 on FTSE RAFI series) and a direct competitor in smart beta indexing, with comparable factor and fundamental index offerings.
• AQR Capital Management: AQR is a closely comparable academic-driven asset manager publishing practitioner research on factor premiums, smart beta, and fundamental signals, with a similar combination of in-house research and institutional product offerings.

Broad incumbents

• MSCI Inc. MSCI is a dominant global index provider offering factor, ESG, and fundamental-weighted indices that compete with the FTSE RAFI series; it licenses methodologies to ETF issuers and asset managers worldwide on a similar asset-based model.
• S&P Dow Jones Indices: S&P DJI licenses broad index families including S&P 500 factor and dividend-weighted indices, competing head-to-head with RAFI products in the ETF and SMA market.
• BlackRock (iShares): BlackRock is both a major distribution partner (iShares ETFs tracking RAFI indices) and a competitor offering competing factor and smart beta ETFs at scale; the largest global asset manager with internal index research capabilities.
• Invesco (QQQ, factor ETFs): Invesco operates a broad ETF platform including factor and smart beta strategies that compete with RAFI-based products for institutional and advisor wallet share.
• State Street SPDR: State Street Global Advisors is a major ETF franchise with factor and smart beta offerings that compete with RAFI-licensed products in advisor and institutional channels.

Emerging players

• WisdomTree Investments: WisdomTree is an ETF issuer whose dividend-weighted and fundamentally-weighted index methodologies (originally FTSE/Russell) overlap directly with the FTSE RAFI Equity Income Series co-developed by Research Affiliates and FTSE Russell.
• Alpha Architect: Alpha Architect is a smaller, research-intensive factor investing firm publishing practitioner-grade research and offering factor ETFs, reflecting the same academic-to-product translation model Research Affiliates pioneered.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ra_insights
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/research-affiliates

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Research Affiliates