Percent Appoints CCO and CCO as Private Credit Platform AUM Hits $346.9M
By Lauren Towner · 2 September 2026

Quick Summary
Percent expanded its executive team by appointing Bina Shetty as Chief Commercial Officer and Cecil Smart as Chief Credit Officer. Driving modern private credit market expansion, the fintech recorded $346.9 million in platform AUM, representing a 23.9% year-over-year increase amid surging institutional demand.
How Does Percent Address Institutional Demand in Private Credit?
Institutional investors require robust infrastructure, transparency, and strict credit standards to deploy capital effectively in non-public debt markets. Percent solves this by delivering standardized data, liquidity mechanisms, and tailored asset management structures.
- 23.9% AUM growth YoY, reaching $346.9 million in Q2 platform AUM.
- $67.0 million expansion in platform assets added over the past 12 months.
- Dual leadership hires establishing dedicated senior accountability across commercial growth and credit risk.
By offering mandate-driven Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) alongside white-label institutional technology, Percent provides capital allocators with structured access to lower middle market lender finance. The platform's integrated Secondary Market further enhances liquidity optionality prior to asset maturity, supporting full-lifecycle credit management.
What Roles Do Bina Shetty and Cecil Smart Assume at Percent?
To support its scaling operational footprint, Percent appointed experienced Wall Street veterans to lead its core investment and commercial tracks.
- Bina Shetty (Chief Commercial Officer): Brings over 25 years experience in investment banking across Merrill Lynch, CIBC World Markets, and Canaccord Genuity to direct originations and investor relations.
- Cecil Smart (Chief Credit Officer): Leverages over 20 years structured finance expertise from Sixth Street and Kroll Bond Rating Agency to govern credit strategy, underwriting standards, and portfolio surveillance.
"Percent has spent years building the infrastructure for a more transparent and efficient private credit market. Now we're scaling the organization and specifically the investment capabilities built on top of that foundation," said Prath Reddy, CFA, Co-Founder and CEO of Percent.
"Bina and Cecil bring clear senior accountability across commercial growth and credit as we expand into the ways institutional investors increasingly access private credit and continue building on our lower middle market lender finance focus on the asset management side."
How Does Infrastructure Drive Modern Private Credit Growth?
Standardized technology and secondary market liquidity are rapidly modernizing the private credit ecosystem, which historically suffered from fragmented workflows and illiquidity. Percent's upward movement on the Inc. 5000 ranking—climbing 345 spots to No. 956—underscores the broader market transition toward digital-first debt platforms.
By unifying borrower originations, credit underwriting, and secondary trading under a single technological framework, modern platforms enable institutional participants to scale allocations with operational efficiency.
FF NEWS TAKE:
The institutional adoption of automated infrastructure marks a permanent shift in private credit market expansion. As alternative asset allocations grow, tech-enabled debt platforms providing standardized underwriting and secondary liquidity are becoming mandatory industry rails. Platforms offering transparent, data-driven frameworks will continue capturing share from legacy, fragmented credit syndication models across lower middle market lending.
Companies in this story: Sixth Street, Canaccord Genuity, Percent, Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Percent Advisors LLC, Merrill Lynch, CIBC World Markets
People in this story: Bina Shetty, Cecil Smart, Prath Reddy