August 4, 2025
Head of Marketing
Private markets are expanding at a staggering pace, expected to surpass $20 trillion in assets globally by 2030, according to Blackrock. But behind the impressive growth, a foundational risk still remains largely unaddressed: operational fragility.
In a sector increasingly shaped by regulatory pressure, investor demands, and structural complexity, many firms to this day rely on spreadsheets and disconnected systems to manage mission-critical processes. For Oliver Freigang, CEO of qashqade, that’s not just outdated - it’s dangerous.
“Anything that’s not automated opens the door to delays, errors, and audit risk. We’re not talking about marginal inefficiencies. We’re talking about systemic operational risk.”
Despite rapid capital inflows, much of the private markets infrastructure remains surprisingly manual. Firms still manage fund waterfalls and investor allocations in Excel, often using models built years ago by people no longer in the organization.
“We regularly see Excel files with millions of records, created five or six years ago. They’re brittle, untraceable, and impossible to audit,” says Freigang. “You’re relying on something you can’t even verify anymore.”
The risks are real. Studies show over 88% of spreadsheets contain errors. In private markets, even a 1% discrepancy can mean millions in lost capital, misallocated fees, or regulatory missteps.
Operational resilience is no longer optional. It’s a strategic imperative.
One qashqade client, managing an open-ended fund with more than 1,000 LPs and 1,200 deals, illustrates the shift from fragile to future-proof.
Previously, they were running 10–12 Excel files in parallel just to produce a single report. It took 32 hours, assuming no crashes or data mismatches. With qashqade’s platform, the same report now runs in six minutes (with even more data).
“That’s what true scalability looks like,” says Freigang. “It’s not just about going faster, it’s about being confident in your output, every single time.”
With increasing regulatory oversight, particularly through frameworks like the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), transparency and traceability are becoming must-haves.
Unlike black-box Excel models, qashqade provides a full audit trail - down to every assumption and input - helping firms withstand scrutiny from regulators, auditors, and LPs.
One major difference from others is that qashqade don’t rely on Excel formulas. “We provide detailed metadata reports and data exports that give a full, transparent overview of your waterfalls and calculations.”
This makes it easy for auditors to replicate and verify results, giving fund admins and managers exactly what they need.
“Auditability is often underestimated. But in a world where compliance is tightening, it becomes a strategic differentiator. Our clients don’t just want outputs - they want proof.”
Automation is the means. Resilience is the goal.
Whether it's missed distributions, fee miscalculations, or reputational hits from bad data – operational failures in private markets are becoming more visible and more costly. The recent qashqade summer survey captured real-world losses including multi-million-dollar overpayments and errors impacting tax positions and investor trust.
“One respondent shared a $20 million mistake due to a 10% equity rollover miscalculation,” Freigang recalls. “These aren’t outliers – they’re everyday risks for firms still relying on legacy processes.”
For qashqade, resilience isn’t about simply bouncing back, it’s about building systems that prevent failure in the first place.
“We design our infrastructure to be secure by design, fully auditable, and easy to scale. Because if you can’t trust your numbers, you can’t grow.”
Rather than build everything in-house, qashqade focuses on doing one thing exceptionally well. Automating complex calculations. It integrates with other best-in-class providers to round out the ecosystem.
Partnerships with Entrilia and it|venture are opening doors to seamless data exchange, payment automation, and enhanced data validation.
Meanwhile, AI is being strategically deployed - not to build models, but to verify them.
“AI isn’t there yet for generating waterfalls. But it’s powerful for quality assurance, flagging anomalies, checking logic, and strengthening trust in outputs,” says Freigang.
Efficiency. Accuracy. Peace of mind. These are the reasons fund admins are choosing qashqade. Not just to move faster, but to move forward with confidence.
“We’ve implemented over 5,000 vehicles. We know the pain points, and we’ve built a platform designed to eliminate them,” says Freigang. “Operational resilience isn’t a slogan, it’s our product roadmap.”
If you're still relying on spreadsheets and manual workflows, it's time to seriously rethink your infrastructure. qashqade helps you automate with confidence, reduce operational risk, and build the resilient foundation your investors and regulators expect.
