Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS -1.36% is buying specialty lender GreenSky Inc. GSKY -12.20% for $2.2 billion, striking a deal it hopes will further its reinvention from Wall Street powerhouse to Main Street player.

Goldman will pay roughly $12 a share in stock for GreenSky, which arranges loans for big one-time purchases like construction projects or cosmetic surgery. It works with thousands of merchants ranging from Home Depot Inc. HD -0.69% to independent doctors and dentists, and pitches its loans as cheaper and more responsible alternatives to credit cards.

“Our goal is to build a real banking platform of the future,” Goldman Chief Executive David Solomon said in an interview. “This moves us along in that journey.”

GreenSky went public in 2018 at a valuation of roughly $4 billion, part of a new crop of startups promising to reinvent how people borrow money. It has pitched itself as a technology platform connecting consumers who need help covering a major purchase and merchants eager to increase sales.

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