StepStone and PitchBook Launch Deal-Level Benchmarking Solution, Adding StepStone's Institutional-Grade Fund and Deal Performance Data to PitchBook's Private Markets Intelligence 

Rhea-AI Summary

StepStone Group (Nasdaq: STEP) and PitchBook launched SPI Deal Benchmarking, now generally available to users of the PitchBook platform and SPI by StepStone. The solution integrates institutional-grade, deal-level performance and operating metrics into PitchBook workflows for private equity, venture capital, growth equity, and infrastructure.

According to StepStone and PitchBook, users can run granular, apples-to-apples benchmarking across strategies, industries, geographies, sizes, and time periods, with all outputs aggregated and anonymized. Features include enhanced deal analytics, clearer insight into performance drivers, support for rigorous underwriting, and improved investor relations and strategy development.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

Key Figures

Release date: June 17, 2026 Partnership start: May 2026

2 metrics

Release date June 17, 2026 Launch date for SPI Deal Benchmarking general availability

Partnership start May 2026 Month the StepStone–PitchBook partnership was first unveiled

Peers on Argus

Peers show mixed moves: HLNE up 3.72%, while JHG, OBDC, AMG, and BXSL are roughl...

Peers show mixed moves: HLNE up 3.72%, while JHG, OBDC, AMG, and BXSL are roughly flat to slightly negative. STEP’s 2.68% gain appears more stock-specific than sector-driven.

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: May 26 (Neutral)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
May 26	Conference presentation	Neutral	-2.0%	Announcement of management presentation at Morgan Stanley US Financials Conference.
May 20	Earnings & dividends	Positive	+5.3%	Quarter and fiscal-year results with regular and supplemental cash dividends declared.
May 18	New business hire	Positive	+0.2%	Hiring head of U.S. Defined Contribution to launch retirement-focused business.
May 06	Data partnership	Positive	-2.5%	Partnership with PitchBook to deliver deal-level metrics via PitchBook platform.
May 06	Earnings date notice	Neutral	-2.5%	Announcement of timing for fourth quarter and fiscal 2026 results release and call.

Pattern Detected

Earnings and capital return announcements have drawn positive reactions, while partnership/strategic news has seen flat to negative moves.

Recent Company History

Over recent months, STEP has highlighted expanding private markets capabilities and capital returns. An earnings release on May 20, 2026 with regular and supplemental dividends coincided with a 5.27% gain. Strategic items such as the initial PitchBook partnership on May 6, 2026 and conference/earnings date notices saw small declines. Today’s product launch with PitchBook builds directly on that May partnership and continues the data/analytics monetization narrative seen in filings.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement expands StepStone’s data monetization strategy by embedding SPI deal-level benchma...

Analysis

This announcement expands StepStone’s data monetization strategy by embedding SPI deal-level benchmarks directly into PitchBook workflows. It follows the May 2026 partnership and delivers the promised analytics to private equity, venture capital, and infrastructure users. Context from recent filings—including strong AUM growth and a focus on technology-enabled solutions—frames this launch as part of a broader platform build-out. Investors may watch future disclosures for adoption metrics and any revenue contribution tied to SPI Deal Benchmarking.

Key Terms

private equity buyout, venture capital, growth equity, private markets, +4 more

8 terms

private equity buyout financial

"granular, apples-to-apples benchmarking across private equity buyout, venture capital"

A private equity buyout is when an investment firm buys a controlling stake in a company—often using a mix of its own money and borrowed funds—with the goal of improving the business and later selling it for a profit. Think of it like a professional house flip: the buyer takes control, makes changes to boost value, and then exits. For investors this can mean higher leverage, changes in strategy or management, and possible removal from public markets.

venture capital financial

"apples-to-apples benchmarking across private equity buyout, venture capital and growth equity"

Venture capital is money provided by specialized investors to young, high-growth companies in exchange for ownership stakes and often a role in shaping strategy — like planting seeds and helping them grow into trees. It matters to investors because venture funding can rapidly boost a startup’s resources, valuation and chances of success, but it also brings high risk and limited liquidity, affecting future returns and how shares behave at exits such as sales or public offerings.

growth equity financial

"benchmarking across private equity buyout, venture capital and growth equity, and infrastructure"

Growth equity is a type of investment where outside investors provide capital to established, revenue-generating companies to accelerate expansion—think of giving a proven small business funds to open many new locations. Investors usually take a minority stake and aim to profit as the company grows in value without changing its core control. For investors, growth equity balances higher return potential than safe bonds with lower risk than early-stage startups, affecting valuation, ownership dilution and future exit prospects.

private markets financial

"granular trends within private markets and how performance is actually generated"

Private markets are places where investors buy and sell ownership in companies, debt, or assets that are not listed on public stock exchanges — think direct stakes in a start-up, private company, real estate project, or loan. They matter to investors because these deals can offer higher potential returns and diversification but come with less transparency, limited ability to sell quickly, and more uncertainty, like owning a whole house versus trading shares of a real estate fund.

AI-powered tools technical

"pairing SPI by StepStone's metrics with PitchBook's private capital data, research, and AI-powered tools"

AI-powered tools are software and systems that use artificial intelligence to analyze data, make predictions, automate routine tasks, or assist human decision-making — like a smart assistant that sifts through large amounts of information and suggests actions. Investors care because these tools can lower costs, speed up operations, and create new revenue opportunities, while also introducing risks around accuracy, regulation, and competitive shifts that can affect a company's value.

alpha financial

"helping investors distinguish alpha from beta across their managers and portfolios"

Alpha is the extra return an investment or fund earns above what would be expected from overall market moves or a chosen comparison index; think of it as how much a chef’s unique recipe outperforms a standard cookbook dish. Investors use alpha to judge whether a manager’s decisions or a strategy are adding value beyond luck or general market trends, with positive alpha indicating outperformance and negative alpha showing underperformance.

beta financial

"helping investors distinguish alpha from beta across their managers and portfolios"

Beta measures how much a stock’s price tends to move compared with the overall market; think of the market as a tide and beta as how high a particular boat rides with each wave. A beta above 1 means the stock usually swings more than the market, below 1 means it swings less, and a negative beta moves opposite. Investors use beta to gauge how adding a stock will change portfolio ups-and-downs and to estimate sensitivity to broad market moves.

capital structure financial

"Detailed performance, valuation, and capital structure data supports more rigorous underwriting"

Capital structure is the way a company finances its operations and growth by using different sources of money, such as borrowed funds (loans or bonds) and owner’s equity (investments from owners or shareholders). It’s like a recipe for baking a cake, where the balance of ingredients affects the final product's strength and taste; similarly, the mix of debt and equity influences a company's stability and risk. For investors, understanding a company's capital structure helps gauge how risky it might be to invest or lend money.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

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Now generally available: deal-level performance and operating metrics from SPI by StepStone, delivered directly within PitchBook workflows 

Gives fund managers, investors, and service providers granular, apples-to-apples benchmarking across private equity buyout, venture capital and growth equity, and infrastructure 

NEW YORK, June 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StepStone Group (Nasdaq: STEP), a leading private market investment firm, and PitchBook, a leading private capital markets intelligence provider and Morningstar company (Nasdaq: MORN), today announced the general availability of SPI Deal Benchmarking, the deal-level benchmarking solution first unveiled in the firms’ May 2026 partnership. The solution is now live and accessible to fund managers and service providers through the PitchBook platform as a standalone offering, and to investors through SPI by StepStone. 

The solution brings institutional-grade, deal-level benchmarking into PitchBook users' existing workflows for the first time, pairing SPI by StepStone's performance and operating metrics with PitchBook's private capital data, research, and AI-powered tools. All outputs are aggregated and anonymized to protect fund manager and deal confidentiality.  

“When we announced this partnership, our goal was to give all market participants a fundamentally clearer view of granular trends within private markets and how performance is actually generated,” said Tyler Johnson, Partner and Chief Technology Officer at StepStone Group. “With today’s launch, that capability is now in their hands. Investors can compare deal performance and operating metrics across several dimensions, analyze track records, and unlock insights that sharpen every stage of their decision-making—all without leaving the tools they already use.” 

“Fund managers have told us they need benchmarking that goes deeper than high-level fund comparisons and lives inside their existing workflows,” said Joanna McGinley, EVP of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives at PitchBook. “That’s exactly what we’re delivering today. By enabling access to StepStone’s deal- and operating-level benchmarks, we’re giving the market a more integrated, transparent way to evaluate performance, support fundraising and underwriting, and navigate an increasingly complex environment.” 

What’s now available 

• Enhanced deal-level analytics: A flexible analytics interface to report performance, exposure, deployment, operating metrics, and value creation analysis for private market deals—drawing on the combined deal and company classification databases of StepStone and PitchBook. Users can filter and report across strategy, industry, geography, size, and time period, with all outputs aggregated and anonymized. 
• Clearer insight into performance drivers: Deal-level (vs. fund-level) analysis enables apples-to-apples comparisons, helping investors distinguish alpha from beta across their managers and portfolios. 
• Rigorous deal underwriting & analysis: Detailed performance, valuation, and capital structure data supports more rigorous underwriting and better-informed investment decisions. 
• Improved investor relations & investment strategy: More granular benchmarks help fund managers articulate and quantify their differentiators, strengthening transparency for fundraising and reporting and informing go-forward strategy. 
• To learn more, click here. 
  
  

About StepStone Group 

StepStone Group Inc. (Nasdaq: STEP) is a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions and advisory and data services to its clients. As of March 31, 2026, StepStone was responsible for approximately $885 billion of total capital, including $233 billion of assets under management. StepStone’s clients include some of the world’s largest public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, as well as prominent endowments, foundations, family offices and private wealth clients. StepStone partners with its clients to develop and build private markets portfolios across the private equity, infrastructure, private debt and real estate asset classes. For more information, visit StepStone Group.

StepStone Group Contacts 

Shareholder Relations:
Seth Weiss 
shareholders@stepstonegroup.com
+1 (212) 351-6106 

Media:
Maggie Duffy / Harper Clark, Edelman
StepStone@edifi-dje.com 

About PitchBook, a Morningstar company 

As the pulse of private capital markets, PitchBook delivers trusted, real-time data, research, and technology to help investors, dealmakers, and innovators make decisions with confidence. Its products provide comprehensive information on companies, investors, funds, deals, and people, along with tools that help professionals analyze market activity. Founded in 2007, PitchBook serves more than 100,000 clients worldwide and is recognized as a leading source of private capital market intelligence, with over 3,000 employees across offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore, Mumbai, and other global locations. Since 2016, PitchBook has been a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. For more information, visit www.pitchbook.com. 

FAQ

What is SPI Deal Benchmarking from StepStone (Nasdaq: STEP) and PitchBook?

SPI Deal Benchmarking is a deal-level benchmarking solution integrating StepStone’s performance and operating metrics into the PitchBook platform. According to StepStone and PitchBook, it provides granular analytics for private equity, venture capital, growth equity, and infrastructure across strategies, industries, geographies, sizes, and time periods.

How do investors access SPI Deal Benchmarking launched in June 2026 by STEP and PitchBook?

Investors access SPI Deal Benchmarking through SPI by StepStone, while fund managers and service providers use it via the PitchBook platform. According to StepStone and PitchBook, it is available as a standalone offering embedded directly within existing PitchBook workflows.

What benchmarking capabilities does SPI Deal Benchmarking offer private equity and venture investors?

SPI Deal Benchmarking enables apples-to-apples comparisons at the deal level rather than only fund level. According to StepStone and PitchBook, users can analyze performance, exposure, deployment, operating metrics, value creation, and capital structure to distinguish different performance drivers across managers and portfolios.

How does SPI Deal Benchmarking support fund managers using StepStone (STEP) and PitchBook data?

The solution helps fund managers benchmark deals and articulate their differentiators using more granular metrics. According to StepStone and PitchBook, it strengthens transparency for fundraising and reporting and informs go-forward investment strategy by offering detailed performance and operating-level comparisons.

Does SPI Deal Benchmarking protect confidentiality of private market deals?

SPI Deal Benchmarking is designed to protect deal and manager confidentiality. According to StepStone and PitchBook, all outputs are aggregated and anonymized, leveraging combined deal and company classification databases while avoiding disclosure of identifiable, deal-specific performance information.

What analytics features are included in SPI Deal Benchmarking from StepStone and PitchBook?

SPI Deal Benchmarking offers a flexible analytics interface for deal performance, exposure, deployment, operating metrics, and value creation analysis. According to StepStone and PitchBook, users can filter and report by strategy, industry, geography, size, and time period within existing PitchBook workflows.