The Structural Gap
Traditional banking is pulling back from middle-market lending due to strict capital requirements. Fintech platforms and private credit funds are stepping in to fill the structural gap, deploying capital in days instead of months by using alternative data and real-time algorithmic pipelines.
Speed Is Not Security
But speed does not guarantee security. Generative AI is changing the fundamental viability of software and SaaS companies, disrupting the predictable cash flows that private credit historically relied upon for security.
When macro foundations shift rapidly, automated risk engines can misread reality based on backward-looking training data.
Why Human Due Diligence Still Wins
The attached NAVI strategic intelligence deck walks through why human-led due diligence remains irreplaceable in a volatile credit environment, and where the new failure modes hide.
By Michael Lennard Gnaedinger. © 2026 Gnaedinger Consultancy. All rights reserved.
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