SMARTFINANCIAL INC.

To assist you in reviewing our proxy statement, we have summarized several key topics below, including information aboutthe Annual Meeting, the proposals to be voted upon, our current board composition, corporate governance highlights and 2025 business highlights. As summaries, these sections do not contain all the information you should consider before voting. For more complete information, you should review the rest of our proxy statement as well as our Annual Report to Shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2025. We are distributing this proxy statement on or about April 7, 2026.

Annual Meeting Shareholders—General Information

Information about the directors

The following table shows, as of March 24, 2026, for each nominee to the Board of Directors: (1) his or her name; (2) his or her age; (3) his or her position(s) with SmartFinancial or SmartBank, other than as a director, if any; and (4) how long he or she has been a director of SmartFinancial, SmartFinancial’s predecessor entity, SmartFinancial, Inc. (“Legacy SmartFinancial”) and/or SmartBank.

This proxy statement contains important information for you to consider when deciding how to vote on the matters brought before the Annual Meeting. We encourage you to read it carefully. We are distributing this proxy statement on or about April 7, 2026. In this proxy statement, the terms “we,” “our,” “ours,” “us,” “SmartFinancial”,“SMBK” and the “Company” refer to SmartFinancial, Inc. The term “SmartBank” refers to our wholly owned bank subsidiary, which is a Tennessee banking corporation. The terms “Board” and “Board of Directors” refer to the Board of Directors of SmartFinancial.

We do not know of any business that will be presented for consideration at the Annual Meeting other than the matters described in this proxy statement. This proxy statement is dated April 7, 2026, and is being mailed or otherwise made available to the shareholders of SmartFinancial on or about April 7, 2026, along with the form of proxy.

Voting information

Record Date and Shareholders Entitled to Vote

The Board set March 24, 2026, as the record date for the Annual Meeting. Holders of shares of our common stock at the close of business on the record date are entitled to attend the Annual Meeting and vote on the proposals brought forth

during the Annual Meeting or any postponements or adjournments thereof. Each share of our common stock is entitled to one vote. Shareholders do not have cumulative voting rights.

Outstanding Shares and Quorum

There were 17,098,473 shares of common stock outstanding on the record date (inclusive of 274,420 unvested shares of restricted stock having voting rights).

The presence of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting will constitute a quorum. In order to have a meeting of shareholders, it is necessary that a quorum be present. A quorum will be present if a majority of the shares of issued and outstanding common stock are represented at the Annual Meeting in person or by proxy. Abstentions and broker non-votes will be counted for purposes of determining the presence or absence of a quorum. In the event there are not sufficient votes for a quorum or to approve or ratify any proposal at the time of the Annual Meeting, the Annual Meeting may be adjourned or postponed to permit the further solicitation of proxies.

Procedures for Voting by Proxy

*Shareholders of Record; Shares Registered Directly in Your Name.*Shareholders of record may vote their shares in person during the Annual Meeting or submit a proxy to cause their shares to be represented and voted at the Annual Meeting. Shareholders of record may grant a proxy with respect to their shares by one of four ways:PLEASE CHOOSE ONLY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

If you are a shareholder of record and you return a signed and dated proxy card without marking any voting selections, your shares will be voted (1)“FOR” the election to the Board of Directors the 10 nominees listed below under “Proposal Number 1: Election of Directors,” (2) “FOR” the ratification of the appointment of our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2026, “Proposal Number 2: Ratification of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm”, and (3) “FOR” approving the compensation of the named executive officers, detailed below under “Compensation of Directors and Named Executive Officers.” “Proposal Number 3: Advisory Vote on the Compensation of SmartFinancial’s Named Executive Officers”. If any director nominee becomes unavailable for election for any reason prior to the vote at the Annual Meeting, the Board may reduce the number of directors to be elected or substitute another person as a nominee, in which case your proxy (one of the individuals named on your proxy card) will

vote for the substitute nominee. If any other matter is properly presented at the Annual Meeting, your proxy will vote your shares as recommended by the Board or, if no recommendation is given, will vote your shares using his or her discretion.

The proxy solicited hereby, if properly voted and not revoked prior to its use, will be voted in accordance with the directions contained therein. Votes will be counted the day of the Annual Meeting by the inspector of election appointed by the Company for the Annual Meeting. The Board has appointed William (“Billy”) Y. Carroll, Jr. and Wesley M. (“Miller”) Welborn as your proxies, each with power of substitution, at the Annual Meeting. We are not aware of any other matters to be considered at the Annual Meeting. However, if any other matters come before the Annual Meeting, Mr. Carroll, Jr. and Mr. Welborn will vote your proxy on such matters in accordance with their judgment.

Broker non-votes

Many of our shareholders hold their shares through a bank, broker, or other nominee rather than directly in their own name. If you hold our shares in “street name” through a bank, broker, or other nominee, you are considered to be the beneficial owner of those shares held in street name, and your bank, broker, or other nominee, who is considered the shareholder of record with respect to those shares, is forwarding these materials to you. As the beneficial owner of shares held in street name, you have the right to direct your bank, broker, or other nominee how to vote. As the beneficial owner of shares held in street name, you are also invited to attend the Annual Meeting. However, since your bank, broker, or other nominee, and not you, is the shareholder of record, you may not vote shares held in street name in person at the Annual Meeting unless you obtain a signed “legal proxy” from your bank, broker, or other nominee giving you the right to vote the shares. Your bank, broker, or other nominee has enclosed or provided with this proxy statement a voting instruction card for you to use to direct your bank, broker, or other nominee how to vote your shares.

Brokers, banks or other agents that have not received voting instructions from their customers cannot vote on their customers’ behalf with respect to proposals that are not “routine” but may vote their customers’ shares with respect to proposals that are “routine.”Shares that brokers, banks and other agents are not authorized to vote are referred to as “broker non-votes.” The ratification of the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm is a routine proposal, while all other proposals in this proxy statement (including the election of directors and “say-on-pay” vote) are not “routine” proposals. Therefore, if you are a beneficial holder and if you submit a voting instruction form to your bank, broker or other nominee but do not specify how to vote your shares, your shares will be voted in the bank, broker or other nominee’s discretion with respect to the ratification of the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, but such shares will not be voted with respect to the election of directors or the “say-on-pay” vote.

Proxy Revocation and Changing My Vote

You may revoke or change your proxy and change your vote at any time before the polls close at the Annual Meeting. If you are the record holder of the shares, you may do this by (a) signing and delivering another proxy with a later date, (b) by voting in person at the Annual Meeting, (c) filing a written notice of revocation with our Investor Relations at our principal executive offices, 5401 Kingston Pike, Suite 600, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919, or (d) by voting again over the Internet or by telephone prior to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on May 20, 2026. Please note that attending the Annual Meeting in person will not automatically change or revoke your proxy unless you vote again in person at the Annual Meeting.

If your shares are held by your bank, broker, or other nominee, you should follow the instructions provided by your bank, broker, or other nominee.

Solicitation of Proxies

The Board is soliciting proxies for the purposes set forth in the Notice. Solicitations of proxies may be made in person or by mail, telephone, or other means. We are paying for the costs of preparing and mailing the proxy materials and of reimbursing brokers and others for their expenses of forwarding copies of the proxy materials to our shareholders. Our directors, officers, and associates may assist in soliciting proxies but will not receive additional compensation for doing so.

Voting Results

The Company will publish the voting results in a Current Report on Form 8-K, which will be filed with the SEC within four business days following the Annual Meeting. If final voting results are not available to us in time to file a Form 8-K within four business days after the Annual Meeting, we intend to file a Form 8-K to publish preliminary results and, within four business days after the final results are known to us, file an additional Form 8-K to publish the final results.

Householding

We are permitted to send a single Notice and any other proxy materials we choose to mail to shareholders who share the same last name and address. This procedure is called “householding” and is intended to reduce our printing and postage costs. If you would like to receive a separate copy of a proxy statement or annual report, either now or in the future, or if you would like to request householding and are currently receiving multiple copies, please contact Investor Relations at the following address: 5401 Kingston Pike, Suite 600, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919, or by e-mail at nathan.strall@smartbank.com. If you hold your shares through a bank, broker or trustee or other nominee and would like to receive additional copies of the Notice and any other proxy materials, or if multiple copies of the Notice or other proxy materials are being delivered to your address and you would like to request householding, please contact your nominee.

Other Matters

Shareholders who have questions about the matters to be voted on at the Annual Meeting or how to submit a proxy should contact Investor Relations of the Company at 5401 Kingston Pike, Suite 600, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919, or by e-mail at nathan.strall@smartbank.com.