Private Credit (Insanely) Runs on Excel. Goldman Sees Profit.

Goldman Sachs Group’s in-house incubator, GS Accelerate, is developing a business that will offer outside clients access to its risk-analytics platform for private credit investing.

Tanya Baker, head of GS Accelerate, said Wednesday in a phone interview that she is searching for a head of business strategy for the platform, called Polaris. The platform was developed by Goldman’s merchant banking division, where the bank's private credit group actively uses Polaris for eight investment vehicles.

Among other things, users of the risk analytics platform can model projected fund returns and their drivers, as well as model and analyze how different scenarios will affect funds. Polaris will ultimately be expanded to other private asset classes, such as private equity and real estate.

“The new head of business strategy will figure out how to expand the platform and build further commercial opportunities,” Baker said. “Other private markets clearly have similar challenges.”

Created in 2018, GS Accelerate funds new projects and businesses across the firm. The incubator was started in part to help create an entrepreneurial environment for employees and currently funds 10 projects, including Polaris.

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Private credit has been one of the fastest growing asset classes in recent years. In addition to growth in assets, the funds themselves have become more complex.

Still, there’s a big opportunity to offer sophisticated technology to asset managers relying on outdated systems.

“Despite significant growth in private markets, many GPs and LPs are still usingExcelfor fund modeling and reporting,” said Baker.