StepStone Group Inc. (STEP): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking to map the financial DNA of StepStone Group Inc., and honestly, the core engine is their ability to structure access to opaque private markets-think private equity, real estate, and infrastructure-for everyone from pension funds to high-net-worth individuals. This isn't just about scale, though having $209 billion in Assets Under Management as of September 30, 2025, helps; it's about using proprietary data to create clarity and charge for it, evidenced by their $767.014 million in net management and advisory fees for FY2025. To see how they align their key activities, like launching new evergreen funds, with their massive $771 billion total capital responsibility and manage costs like the $669.126 million in equity-based compensation, you need to break down the nine building blocks right here.

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the network that lets StepStone Group Inc. source the best deals and distribute its products to a global client base. These aren't just casual acquaintances; these are deep, structural relationships that underpin their entire business model.

The relationships with General Partners (GPs) for underlying fund access are foundational. StepStone Group acts as a critical allocator to top-tier GPs across private equity, real estate, debt, and infrastructure. While specific GP commitment figures aren't public for every relationship, the scale of their operation speaks to the strength of these partnerships. As of September 30, 2025, StepStone Group was responsible for approximately $771 billion of total capital responsibility. This massive pool of capital is what gives them preferred access to new fund vintages.

For direct deal execution, co-investment partners are essential. StepStone Group has seen 229 investors co-invest alongside them in portfolio companies over the past 18 years. This collaborative approach allows them to write larger checks on direct deals. For instance, the firm announced the closing of its inaugural infrastructure co-investment fund at $1.2 billion in Q3 2025. This scale requires a network of trusted co-investors to participate effectively.

The distribution channel relies heavily on partnerships with major financial institutions to reach individual investors. StepStone Private Wealth Solutions (SPW) is clearly a growth engine. As of September 30, 2025, the total private wealth AUM reached $12.1 billion. This figure more than doubled the assets seen just a year prior on September 30, 2024. To put that growth in context, one report noted the private wealth platform added $5 billion in under one year to surpass $10 billion in AUM by August 2025. This suggests strong alignment and distribution agreements with the wirehouses and other financial institutions that feed these subscriptions.

StepStone Group also partners with key data and technology providers to maintain its edge. In July 2025, StepStone Group announced it is utilizing Goji's technology specifically to improve access to several of its European private market evergreen funds. Furthermore, the firm references the FTSE StepStone Global Private Market Indices under its investor tools, indicating a formal relationship with global index providers for benchmarking and product structuring.

Here's a snapshot of the scale and key partnership metrics as of late 2025:

Partnership Category	Metric/Value	As of Date/Period
Total Capital Responsibility	$771 billion	September 30, 2025
Total Assets Under Management (AUM)	$209 billion	September 30, 2025
Total Fee-Earning AUM	Over $114 billion	Q3 2025
Total Private Wealth AUM	$12.1 billion	September 30, 2025
Private Wealth AUM Growth (Last Year)	Added $5 billion (to exceed $10B)	By August 2025
Inaugural Infrastructure Co-Investment Fund Size	$1.2 billion	Q3 2025
Total Co-Investors Over 18 Years	229 investors	Past 18 years
Empowered Experts	1,240+	As of 9/30/2025

The firm's client base, which dictates the type of GP and distribution partnerships needed, is broad:

• Top-tier public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds
• Sovereign wealth funds
• Insurance companies
• Prominent endowments and foundations
• Family offices
• Private wealth clients (high-net-worth and mass affluent individuals)

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

You're looking at the core engine of StepStone Group Inc. as of late 2025, focusing on what they actually do to generate revenue and manage capital. Honestly, it's all about scale, proprietary data, and deep specialization across private markets.

Investment management across four core asset classes

StepStone Group Inc. manages capital across its four main pillars: Private Equity, Real Estate, Infrastructure, and Private Debt. As of the data reported for March 31, 2025, the scale of their management responsibility across these areas looked like this:

Asset Class	AUM (Assets Under Management)	FEAUM (Fee-Earning AUM)	AUA (Assets Under Advisement)
Private Equity	$76B	$40B	$228B
Real Estate	$11B	$5B	$149B
Infrastructure	$26B	$18B	$44B
Private Debt	$22B	$12B	$15B

This data reflects the allocation by underlying investment asset classification as of March 31, 2025. To put the overall scale in perspective, as of September 30, 2025, StepStone Group Inc. was responsible for approximately $771 billion of total capital, with $209 billion in Assets Under Management.

Structuring and launching new private wealth funds (e.g., evergreen funds)

A major activity involves creating tailored access points for the private wealth channel. You see this clearly with the launch of the StepStone Private Equity Strategies Fund, or STPEX, an evergreen interval fund.

• STPEX launched in September 2025.
• It raised more than $750 million to date as of November 2025.
• The minimum investment requirement is $5,000.
• Liquidity is provided through semi-annual redemptions, currently expected to be up to 5% of the fund's net asset value.
• The private wealth platform AUM surpassed $6 billion as of the third quarter of 2025, driven by $1 billion in new subscriptions that quarter.

This evergreen structure allows for daily capital raising, which is a key operational difference from traditional closed-end funds.

Proprietary data and analytics development for market insight

StepStone Group Inc. views its data and technology as a core competitive strength, built on proprietary software systems. The SPI Research platform is central to this activity.

As of March 31, 2024, the SPI Research system contained:

• Information on approximately 18,000 fund managers.
• Data on 46,000 funds.
• Information covering 105,000 companies.
• Details on 227,000 investments.

The firm also utilizes StepStone Portfolio Analytics & Reporting (SPAR) for customized portfolio analytics. Furthermore, in June 2025, FTSE Russell partnered with StepStone Group to leverage this database for creating new global fund-level daily private market indices.

High-touch client advisory and customized portfolio construction

This activity is supported by a large, globally distributed team focused on client interaction and bespoke solutions. As of September 30, 2025, the firm had 1,240 empowered experts across its offices. The firm's dedicated in-house business development, marketing, and client relations teams comprised approximately 200 professionals across 15 countries as of the data reported for March 31, 2025.

The client base served through these advisory activities includes:

• Some of the world's largest public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds.
• Sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies.
• Prominent endowments, foundations, and family offices.
• Private wealth clients, including high-net-worth and mass affluent individuals.

Global fundraising and capital deployment, including $1.2 billion infrastructure fund close

Global fundraising remains a critical, high-volume activity. StepStone Infrastructure Co-Investment Partners 2022 (SICP) achieved its final close in January 2025, securing over $1.4 billion in total capital commitments, significantly surpassing its target of approximately $1.2 billion.

Other significant fundraising milestones in 2025 included:

Fund Name	Amount Raised (Approximate)	Close/Status
StepStone Secondary Opportunities Fund V	More than $4 billion	Still in market (as of Aug 2024 data)
VC Secondaries Fund VI	$3.3 billion	Closed in June 2025
StepStone Real Estate Partners V (SREP V)	$3.77 billion	Final close (April 2025)
StepStone Tactical Growth Fund IV (STGF IV)	$705 million	Closed (April 2025)

In terms of deployment, management highlighted the successful deployment of $2 billion in capital during the third quarter of 2025, with projections for continued robust activity. Historically, the firm deploys over $75 billion per year into the private markets.

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

The foundation of StepStone Group Inc.'s business model rests on several critical, hard-to-replicate assets. These resources allow the firm to source, analyze, and manage private markets investments at scale for its sophisticated client base.

The sheer scale of capital managed and overseen is a primary resource. As of September 30, 2025, StepStone Group Inc. was responsible for approximately $771 billion of total capital, a significant figure that underscores client trust. This total capital responsibility includes $209 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) as of the same date.

The human capital supporting these figures is substantial. StepStone Group Inc. maintains a global team of over 1,240 empowered experts as of September 30, 2025. This team operates across 31 offices worldwide, providing comprehensive coverage and a local point of view across all relevant markets.

Here's a quick look at the core quantitative resources as of the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2026:

Resource Metric	Amount as of 9/30/2025
Total Capital Responsibility	$771 billion
Assets Under Management (AUM)	$209 billion
Empowered Experts	1,240+
Global Offices	31

A key differentiator is the proprietary data and technology platform, known as SPI by StepStone (StepStone Private Markets Intelligence). This web-based suite was built over several years to unite the firm's existing research, data, and private markets tools. It is defintely central to investment due diligence and portfolio analysis, offering tools such as:

• SPI Research: Repository of proprietary data and research.
• SPI Reporting: Portfolio monitoring and analytics tool (formerly Omni).
• SPI Pacing: Portfolio forecasting and optimization tool.
• SPI Benchmarking: Tool for evaluating trends across GP-, fund-, and deal-level data.

Finally, the firm's long-term, trusted relationships with major institutional investors form an intangible but vital resource. These relationships allow StepStone Group Inc. to build private markets portfolios tailored to specific client objectives across private equity, infrastructure, private debt, and real estate asset classes. The client base includes:

• Largest public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds.
• Sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies.
• Prominent endowments and foundations.
• Family offices and private wealth clients (including high-net-worth individuals).

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at what StepStone Group Inc. actually delivers to its clients-the core value that keeps capital flowing across their platform. Honestly, it boils down to institutional-grade access and clarity in markets that are inherently opaque.

Access to diversified private market strategies (PE, Debt, Real Estate, Infrastructure)

StepStone Group Inc. offers access across the full spectrum of private markets, which is crucial for building resilient portfolios. As of September 30, 2025, the firm was responsible for approximately $771 Billion of total capital responsibility, with $209 Billion in assets under management (AUM). This scale supports their ability to source deals across asset classes. For context, as of March 31, 2025, the AUM breakdown showed:

Asset Class	AUM (as of 3/31/2025)	Percentage of Total AUM
Private Equity	$96 Billion	51%
Infrastructure	$37 Billion	20%
Private Debt	$37 Billion	20%
Real Estate	$19 Billion	10%

The firm is actively deploying capital, with Undeployed Fee-Earning Capital (UFEC) totaling $22 Billion following the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

Customized, solutions-based portfolio construction for specific client objectives

StepStone Group Inc. doesn't just offer funds; they build portfolios tailored to what you need to achieve. This is evident in their specialized offerings, like the StepStone Real Estate Partners V ("SREP V") program, which finalized its size at $5.3 Billion in total commitments as of September 30, 2025. This program alone has committed to 12 investments totaling $3.2 Billion, with an average investment size to date of approximately $266 Million. The firm uses its platform to design commitment plans by forecasting cash flows to hit allocation targets.

Creating clarity in opaque markets through data-driven insights

You get a clearer view because StepStone Group Inc. backs its investments with deep research. Their proprietary data tracks intelligence on over 18,000 general partners, 49,000 funds, 122,000 companies, and 273,000 investments, using data as of March 2025. This intelligence is powered by a team of over 1,240+ empowered experts across 31 offices worldwide as of September 30, 2025. This scale of data collection helps inform their investment selection, which is housed in a consolidated due diligence library containing insights from over 375 investment professionals.

Liquidity solutions via secondary market transactions

When you need to generate liquidity, StepStone Group Inc. is a major player in the secondary market. According to their August 2025 report, the first half of 2025 already saw $102 Billion in secondary transactions, putting the market on pace to break the 2024 record of $160 Billion. They facilitate both sides:

• LP-led transactions reached $89 Billion in 2024, with $54 Billion transacted in 1H25.
• GP-led transactions hit $71 Billion in 2024, representing 44% of total secondary activity.

Still, the overall secondary penetration remains low, at a modest 1% of total private equity fund Net Asset Value (NAV), which reached $8.7 Trillion in 2024. This suggests significant room for their liquidity solutions to grow.

Institutional-quality private markets access for private wealth clients

StepStone Private Wealth Solutions (SPWS) brings that institutional access to a broader base. As of September 30, 2025, SPWS managed $12.1 Billion in AUM, which is more than double the assets they had on September 30, 2024. This platform saw its strongest growth quarter to date in Q3 FY2025, driven by $1 Billion in new subscriptions. They offer products like the StepStone Private Markets Fund (SPRIM®), which had a NAV of $61.11 as of December 4, 2025, for Class I shares.

The firm was responsible for approximately $723 Billion of total capital as of June 30, 2025, showing the massive scale they bring to their private wealth clients. Finance: review the Q4 2025 cash flow projections based on the latest AUM figures by next Tuesday.

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how StepStone Group Inc. maintains its connections with the diverse set of investors who entrust them with capital. Honestly, for a firm managing this scale, the relationship structure has to be layered, moving from deep, bespoke service for the biggest players to streamlined access for the wealth channel.

The firm's overall scale as of September 30, 2025, shows approximately $771 billion of total capital responsibility, with $209 billion in assets under management. This massive pool of capital is drawn from a very specific, sophisticated client base.

Dedicated, high-touch advisory for large institutional clients

For the largest clients, the relationship is intensely personal and advisory-driven. StepStone Group Inc. acts as a partner, building private markets portfolios tailored to very specific objectives across private equity, infrastructure, private debt, and real estate. These clients are the bedrock of the firm's institutional mandate.

Here's a look at the core institutional segments that receive this dedicated service:

Client Segment	Nature of Relationship	Data Point Reference
Pension Funds	Public and private defined benefit and defined contribution plans.	Institutional Mandate
Sovereign Wealth Funds	Large, state-owned investment vehicles.	Institutional Mandate
Insurance Companies	Entities requiring long-term, stable asset allocation.	Institutional Mandate
Endowments & Foundations	Perpetual capital requiring growth and preservation.
Family Offices	High-net-worth structures seeking institutional access.

Long-term, partnership-focused model with a fiduciary mindset

The relationship is built on a foundation of trust, stemming from decades of institutional heritage. StepStone Group Inc. emphasizes that its private wealth team extends the same expert guidance that has been trusted by institutional investors for many years. This is not a transactional business; it's about long-term partnership, which is essential when dealing with illiquid private markets assets.

Digital self-service tools and investor portals for monitoring

While the high-touch advisory is key for institutions, digital tools support the ongoing monitoring and transparency required by all clients. The firm provides investor portals where clients can track their investments. You can see the latest detailed reports, such as the Fiscal Year 2025 Fourth Quarter Earnings Presentation, which is 3.3 MB in size, available on the shareholder relations site.

Proactive communication on market insights and fund performance

StepStone Group Inc. keeps clients informed through proactive communication, sharing perspectives from the heart of the private markets. Stakeholders have access to earnings call transcripts, like the Q4 2025 Earnings Conference Call, and detailed financial presentations to understand performance drivers. For instance, Q3 2025 saw fee-related earnings reach $74.1 million, reflecting a 46% year-over-year increase. This level of detail is shared to maintain alignment.

Relationship managers for private wealth channel distribution

The private wealth channel is a significant growth area, requiring dedicated relationship management to simplify access to institutional-grade products. As of September 30, 2025, StepStone Private Wealth Solutions (SPWS) reported $12.1 billion in AUM, which is over double the assets seen since September 30, 2024. This growth is supported by relationship managers who help wealth advisors deliver solutions.

The firm supports this channel with specific structures and personnel:

• The SPWS AUM milestone of $12.1 billion as of 9/30/2025.
• Expansion into Europe, including a new Madrid office, their ninth in Europe, to manage business development and client relations for the Iberian region.
• Lowering investment minimums and removing accreditation requirements for certain US funds to enhance participation.
• The StepStone Academy expands its curriculum to offer continuing education for financial professionals.

The firm's distribution focus is clear: bring institutional quality to the wealth channel with streamlined onboarding and expert support. Finance: draft the 13-week cash view by Friday.

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how StepStone Group Inc. gets its investment solutions and advisory services into the hands of clients, which is a mix of high-touch direct engagement and scalable technology platforms. This firm operates globally, meaning their channels must cover everything from sovereign wealth funds to high-net-worth individuals.

The sheer scale of capital StepStone Group Inc. manages dictates the breadth of their distribution channels. As of September 30, 2025, the firm was responsible for approximately $771 billion of total capital, with $209 billion under management, which flows through these various avenues.

Channel Metric	Value	Date/Context
Total Capital Responsibility	$771 billion	As of 9/30/2025
Total Assets Under Management (AUM)	$209 billion	As of 9/30/2025
Global Office Footprint	31 offices worldwide	As of 9/30/2025
Private Wealth Solutions (SPWS) AUM	$12.1 billion	As of 9/30/2025
Fee-Earning AUM Growth (Single Quarter)	$10 billion increase	Strongest organic growth quarter in company history

Direct sales and advisory teams to institutional investors form the bedrock of the relationship channel. This is where the firm deploys its deep expertise, often involving bespoke mandates for the largest clients like public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies. The global private equity team alone consists of more than 190 investment professionals as of September 30, 2025, directly engaging with these institutional relationships.

The physical presence supports this direct engagement through a global network of offices. StepStone Group Inc. maintains a presence across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The expansion in Southern Europe is marked by the recent opening of a new Madrid office in November 2025, which is the firm's ninth location in Europe. This office is set up to serve clients in Spain, Portugal, and Andorra, emphasizing proximity to local dynamics.

The Private Wealth Solutions platform is a key growth channel, designed to bring institutional-caliber products to a broader investor base. As of September 30, 2025, this segment reached $12.1 billion in AUM, more than doubling its size since September 30, 2024. This platform utilizes several evergreen structures to simplify access:

• StepStone Private Markets Fund (SPRIM®)
• StepStone Private Venture and Growth Fund (SPRING)
• StepStone Private Infrastructure Fund (STRUCTURE)
• StepStone Private Credit Income Fund (CRDEX)
• StepStone Private Equity Strategies Fund (STPEX), which raised more than $750 million since its September 2025 launch

For the institutional and private wealth channels, the firm relies heavily on investor portals and proprietary technology for client reporting. The SPI Reporting platform provides transparency and insight, tracking over 27k investor commitments totaling more than $1.2 Trillion as of September 30, 2025. This system offers real-time access for analyzing performance, exposure, and benchmarking.

The delivery mechanism for many institutional mandates involves co-mingled funds and single investor managed accounts (separate managed accounts). The Dublin office, for instance, serves as a hub for managing EU-domiciled commingled funds and separate accounts for institutional clients. This structure allows StepStone Group Inc. to partner with clients to build portfolios across private equity, infrastructure, private debt, and real estate asset classes.

Finance: finalize the Q3 2025 AUM breakdown by channel for the next board meeting by Monday.

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the core client base for StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) as of late 2025. Honestly, these are the giants of institutional capital, plus a rapidly growing segment of individual wealth. The firm's entire operation is built around serving these distinct, yet interconnected, pools of capital across private markets.

The sheer scale of capital StepStone Group Inc. is responsible for really frames the importance of these segments. As of September 30, 2025, the firm was responsible for approximately $771 billion of total capital responsibility. Out of that, the Assets Under Management (AUM) stood at $209 billion. This institutional focus is what drives their deal sourcing advantage.

Here's a look at how the overall capital responsibility has grown, which reflects the increasing mandate from these client types:

Metric (As of Date)	Total Capital Responsibility	Assets Under Management (AUM)
December 31, 2024 (Q3 FY2025)	$698 billion	$179 billion
March 31, 2025 (Q4 FY2025)	$709 billion	$189 billion
June 30, 2025 (Q1 FY2026)	$723 billion	$199 billion
September 30, 2025 (Q2 FY2026)	$771 billion	$209 billion

The client segments are served through tailored portfolios, blending fund investments, secondaries, and co-investments. The firm explicitly states its clients include:

• Large public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds.
• Sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies.
• Endowments, foundations, and family offices.
• Private wealth clients, which include high-net-worth and mass affluent individuals.

The institutional clients-pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and foundations-form the bedrock of the Assets Under Management figures. These clients rely on StepStone Group Inc.'s multi-asset class expertise spanning private equity, infrastructure, private debt, and real estate.

The private wealth segment, managed through StepStone Private Wealth Solutions (SPWS), shows significant recent traction. As of September 30, 2025, the Total private wealth AUM reached $12.1 billion. This is over double the assets they had as of September 30, 2024. To give you a sense of the velocity, SPWS had reached $10.2 billion in AUM as of July 31, 2025, after adding $5 billion in under one year. This growth is supported by lowering investment minimums and eliminating accredited investor status for some US wealth products.

Regarding General Partners (GPs), while they aren't the paying clients in the same way, they are a critical counterpart. StepStone Group Inc.'s asset management capabilities are enriched by the exhaustive view of the GP universe provided by their large-scale primary fund deployment on behalf of clients. This relationship gives StepStone Group Inc. preferred access to investment opportunities, which benefits the primary client segments listed above. The firm invests selectively with some of the best-in-class managers, making the GP universe a segment they deeply engage with to secure deal flow.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the hard costs StepStone Group Inc. incurred to run its global private markets investment firm for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. This structure is heavily weighted toward compensating the talent that generates the performance and management fees.

The total compensation and benefits expense for the full fiscal year 2025 was a significant $1,264,295 thousand, which is the largest component of the total reported expenses of $1,441,649 thousand for the same period.

Cash-based compensation and benefits

The fixed and near-fixed cash component of employee pay, which includes base salaries and certain benefits, totaled $331,808 thousand for FY2025. This is a core operating cost that needs to be covered by management fees, primarily.

Performance fee-related compensation, which is defintely a variable cost

This cost is directly tied to the performance of the underlying funds, making it highly variable. For FY2025, the total performance fee-related compensation amounted to $189,020 thousand. This cost is broken down based on the realization status of the performance fees.

Here's the quick math on that variable component:

Component	FY2025 Expense (in thousands)
Realized Performance Fee-Related Compensation	$94,748
Unrealized Performance Fee-Related Compensation	$94,272
Total Performance Fee-Related Compensation	$189,020

Equity-based compensation expense

This represents the non-cash charge related to stock awards granted to employees and directors. For the fiscal year 2025, StepStone Group Inc. recorded an equity-based compensation expense of $669,126 thousand. Honestly, this number dwarfs the cash-based compensation, showing a heavy reliance on equity for long-term alignment.

General, administrative, and other operating expenses

This bucket covers the day-to-day running of the business outside of direct compensation. For FY2025, these expenses were $177,354 thousand. What this estimate hides is the specific allocation for technology, but we know it's included here.

The General, administrative and other category generally includes costs like:

• Occupancy costs
• Travel and related costs
• Insurance expenses
• Legal and other professional fees
• Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets
• System-related costs

Technology and data platform maintenance and development costs

While StepStone Group Inc. relies heavily on proprietary data and technology platforms like SPI Research and SPI Reporting, a specific, isolated figure for maintenance and development costs within the reported GAAP structure isn't explicitly broken out. These costs are aggregated within the $177,354 thousand reported for General, administrative and other operating expenses for the year ended March 31, 2025. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

StepStone Group Inc. (STEP) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how StepStone Group Inc. actually brings in the money, which is critical for understanding their stability. Honestly, for a firm like StepStone Group Inc., the revenue mix tells you a lot about where they are in the investment cycle; it's a blend of steady management fees and the more lumpy performance fees.

Here's a look at the core components of their revenue generation for the full fiscal year 2025, based on their reported figures. It's important to note that the figures below are derived from the non-GAAP measure of Total revenues, which was $1,174.830 million for FY2025, up 65% from the prior year.

Revenue Stream Component	FY2025 Amount (in millions USD)	Percentage of Total Revenues (Approximate)
Management and advisory fees, net	$767.014	65.3%
Realized carried interest allocations	$159.653	13.6%
Incentive fees	$32.275	2.8%
Unrealized carried interest allocations	$141.547	12.1%
Fee-Related Earnings (FRE)	$312.204	26.6%

The foundation of the revenue is definitely the management and advisory fees, net, which hit $767.014 million for FY2025. These fees are generally more predictable because they are based on committed capital or invested capital, not market fluctuations, which is why Fee-Related Earnings (FRE) is such a key metric for analysts. For the full year 2025, StepStone Group Inc. reported Fee-related earnings (FRE) of $312.204 million.

Then you have the performance-based revenue, which can really move the needle. The Realized carried interest allocations, which are the profits StepStone Group Inc. actually took home, amounted to $159.653 million in FY2025. This was a massive increase of 223% compared to the prior year's realized carried interest. This shows you the impact of successful exits or distributions during the period.

We also need to account for the other components that make up performance fees. You've got the Incentive fees, which totaled $32.275 million for the year. On the unrealized side-the paper gains that haven't been fully realized yet-the Unrealized carried interest allocations were $141.547 million for FY2025. This unrealized amount is subject to market volatility, so it's less certain than the management fees, but it signals future potential.

StepStone Group Inc. also generates revenue through its data and advisory services, which is a distinct value proposition for their clients. While the search results don't break out a specific dollar amount for Revenue from data and analytics services separate from the main revenue lines, the firm explicitly focuses on providing advisory and data services alongside its asset management offerings. This service line supports the overall client relationship and fee-earning AUM growth.

To be fair, you should always look at the total performance fees, which combine incentive fees and all carried interest allocations (realized and unrealized). For FY2025, StepStone Group Inc.'s Total performance fees were $323.475 million ($32.275M + $159.653M + $141.547M, though the source lists Total performance fees as $407.816 million, which suggests the components listed above might be slightly different from the GAAP/Non-GAAP presentation in the source document, so I'll stick to the explicitly listed components and the total revenue figure). The key action here is tracking the ratio of FRE to performance fees; a higher FRE component means more stability.

Finance: draft a sensitivity analysis on performance fee volatility vs. management fee growth by next Tuesday.