Top 50 Firm Schellman received a minority investment from Private Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, expected to close at the end of Q2 2026.
The announcement marks
Schellman, a cybersecurity compliance and attestation services provider, plans to use its investment from Goldman to expand its services into health care and financial services, fuel large-scale M&A deals, and grow its international presence, particularly in Europe and the U.K., CEO Avani Desai told Accounting Today.
"Lightyear Capital was a great partner to us," Desai said. "It allowed us to institutionalize ourselves, but there were a lot of things that we wanted to work on, and we needed a bigger global sponsor to be able to do that."
"When you look outside of the U.S., there's a lot of cybersecurity assessments, but you have to have a brick-and mortar-presence, or you have to have boots on the ground, and we don't," she added.
Based in Tampa, Florida, Schellman ranked No. 46 on Accounting Today's 2026
"Schellman has built a category-leading, differentiated platform offering attestation and compliance services," Harsh Nanda, partner and head of technology at Private Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, said in a statement. "The firm's technical leadership, focus on quality, and long-term client relationships position Schellman well to capture growing global demand for its services."
Goldman has approximately $3.6 trillion in assets under management. Private Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives has invested over $75 billion since its establishment in 1986.
"Lightyear proactively identified Schellman as a strong investment opportunity as it operates in a terrific growth market, has leading blue chip clients and high NPS scores, and is run by a superb leadership team," Jay Comerford, a partner at Lightyear, said in a statement. "It has been a pleasure to work alongside Avani and the Schellman team. We are proud of what we have accomplished together to transform the business and are excited to continue to invest alongside the management team and Goldman Sachs Alternatives during the next phase of growth."
Lightyear is a New York-based private equity firm with $8.1 billion in assets under management.
Baird served as the exclusive financial advisor to Schellman. Davis Polk acted as counsel to Lightyear and Reed Smith acted as counsel to management. Morgan Stanley served as financial advisor, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges as legal counsel to Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
