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Great-West Ariel Mid Cap Value Fund
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. This table does not reflect the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account. If the fees and expenses imposed by a Permitted Account were reflected, the fees and expenses shown below would be higher.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Great-West Ariel Mid Cap Value Fund
Institutional Class
Investor Class
Class L
Management Fees 0.67% 0.67% 0.67%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none none 0.25%
Total Other Expenses 0.06% 0.44% 0.70%
Shareholder Services Fees none 0.35% 0.35%
Other Expenses 0.06% 0.09% 0.35%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.73% 1.11% 1.62%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement [1] 0.03% 0.06% 0.34%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement 0.70% 1.05% 1.28%
[1] GWCM has contractually agreed to waive management fees or reimburse expenses if total annual fund operating expenses of any Class exceed 0.70% of the Class's average daily net assets, excluding Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees, Shareholder Services Fees, brokerage expenses, taxes, dividend interest on short sales, interest expenses, and any extraordinary expenses, including litigation costs (the “Expense Limit”). The agreement’s current term ends on April 30, 2021 and automatically renews for one-year terms unless it is terminated by Great-West Funds or GWCM upon written notice within 90 days of the end of the current term or upon termination of the investment advisory agreement. Under the agreement, GWCM may recoup, subject to Board approval, these waivers and reimbursements in future periods, not exceeding three years following the particular waiver/reimbursement, provided Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses of the Class plus such recoupment do not exceed the lesser of the Expense Limit that was in place at the time of the waiver/reimbursement or the Expense Limit in place at the time of recoupment.
Example
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example does not reflect the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account. If the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account were reflected, the fees and expenses in the Example would be higher.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and applies whether you hold or redeem all of your shares at the end of each period. The Example also assumes that the Expense Limit is in place for the first year, that your investment has a 5% return each year, that all dividends and capital gains are reinvested, and that the Fund’s operating expenses are the amount shown in the fee table and remain the same for the years shown. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Great-West Ariel Mid Cap Value Fund - USD ($)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Institutional Class 72 230 403 904
Investor Class 107 347 606 1,346
Class L 130 478 849 1,893
Expense Example, No Redemption - Great-West Ariel Mid Cap Value Fund - USD ($)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Institutional Class 72 230 403 904
Investor Class 107 347 606 1,346
Class L 130 478 849 1,893
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate generally indicates higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s turnover rate was 33% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Below is a summary of the principal investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund will, under normal circumstances, invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities of issuers classified in the medium/small ($3.84 billion to $10.92 billion as of December 31, 2019), medium ($10.92 billion to $31.82 billion as of December 31, 2019) or medium/large ($31.82 billion to $127.09 billion as of December 31, 2019) capitalization categories of the Russell 3000® Index. If the market capitalization of a company held by the Fund moves outside these ranges, the Fund may, but is not required to, sell the securities.

The Fund seeks to invest in quality companies in industries in which the sub-adviser has expertise. These include the financial services and consumer discretionary sectors, in which the Fund often will invest a significant portion of its assets. The Fund will emphasize issuers that the sub-adviser believes are undervalued but demonstrate a strong potential for growth. The Fund generally holds between 25-45 securities in its portfolio.

The Fund also currently observes the following operating policies: actively seeking investment in companies that achieve excellence in both financial return and environmental soundness, and selecting issuers that take positive steps toward preserving the environment; and not investing in corporations whose primary source of revenue is derived from the production or sale of tobacco products or the manufacture of firearms.
Principal Investment Risks
Below is a summary of the principal investment risks of investing in the Fund. These risks are presented in an order that reflects GWCM’s current assessment of relative importance, but this assessment could change over time as the Fund’s portfolio changes or in light of changes in the market or the economic environment, among other things. The Fund is not required to and will not update this prospectus solely because its assessment of the relative importance of the principal risks of investing in the Fund changes.

Equity Securities Risk - The value of a company’s stock may fall as a result of factors which directly relate to that company, such as lower demand for the company’s products or services or poor management decisions. In addition, a company’s stock generally pays dividends only after the company makes required payments to holders of its bonds and other debt. For this reason, the value of the stock will usually react more strongly than bonds and other debt to actual or perceived changes in a company’s financial condition or progress.

Small and Medium Size Company Securities Risk - The stocks of small and medium size companies often involve more risk and volatility than those of larger companies. Companies that are small, medium or unseasoned (less than three years of operating history) are more likely not to survive or accomplish their goals with the result that the value of their stock could decline significantly. Among other things, small and medium size companies are often dependent on a small number of products and have limited financial resources, and there is generally less publicly available information about them. Securities of small and medium size companies have lower trading volume and are less liquid than securities of larger, more established companies.

Value Stock Risk - Value stocks tend to trade at lower price-to-book and price-to-earnings ratios which suggest that the market as a whole views their potential future earnings as limited. Investing in value stocks carries the risk that the market will not recognize a stock's potential value for a long time, or that a stock judged to be undervalued may actually be appropriately valued.

Market Risk - The value of the Fund's investments may decrease, sometimes rapidly or unexpectedly, due to factors affecting specific issuers held by the Fund, particular industries represented in the Fund's portfolio, or the overall securities markets. A variety of factors can increase the volatility of the Fund's holdings and markets generally, including political or regulatory developments, recessions, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, war or acts of terrorism, natural disasters, outbreaks of infectious illnesses or other widespread public health issues, or adverse investor sentiment generally. Certain events may cause instability across global markets, including reduced liquidity and disruptions in trading markets, while some events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors, and industries more significantly than others. These adverse developments may cause broad declines in an issuer’s value due to short-term market movements or for significantly longer periods during more prolonged market downturns.

Sector Risk - Sector risk is the possibility that certain sectors of the economy may underperform other sectors or the market as a whole. The Fund often will invest a significant portion of its assets in companies within the financial services and consumer discretionary sectors and its performance may suffer if these sectors underperform the overall stock market.

Management Risk - A strategy used by the portfolio managers may fail to produce the intended results.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit with a bank, is not insured, endorsed or guaranteed by the FDIC or any government agency, and is subject to the possible loss of your original investment.
Performance
The bar chart and table below provide an indication of the risk of investment in the Fund by showing changes in the performance of the Fund’s Investor Class shares for the last ten calendar years and by comparing the Fund's average annual total return to the performance of a broad-based securities market index. The returns shown below are historical and are not an indication of future performance. Total return figures assume reinvestment of dividends and capital gains distributions and include the effect of the Fund’s recurring expenses, but do not include fees and expenses of any Permitted Account. If the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account were reflected, the performance shown would be lower.

Updated performance information may be obtained at www.greatwestfunds.com (the website does not form a part of this Prospectus).
Calendar Year Total Returns
Bar Chart
  Quarter Ended Total Return
Best Quarter September 2010 17.02%
Worst Quarter September 2011 -24.06%
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2019
Average Annual Total Returns - Great-West Ariel Mid Cap Value Fund
One Year
Five Years
Ten Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
Institutional Class 24.82%   5.23% [1] May 01, 2015
Institutional Class | Russell Midcap® Value Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 27.06% 11.38%    
Investor Class 24.32% 5.37% 10.71%    
Investor Class | Russell Midcap® Value Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 27.06% 7.62% 12.41%    
Class L 24.07% 5.20%   5.97% [2] Dec. 20, 2013
Class L | Russell Midcap® Value Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 27.06% 7.62% 9.16%    
[1] Since inception on May 1, 2015
[2] Since inception on December 20, 2013