SOMA Assurance

Operational assurance for intelligent hardware

Technical and operational diligence for lenders and investors: what keeps financed equipment earning, and what survives if the operator fails.

SOMA is a scored, 125-factor methodology that gives lenders the advance rate guidance, covenant recommendations, and monitoring triggers to underwrite facilities where hardware, software, and capital converge. Credit-committee-grade. Delivered in days.

Discuss a live facility Request methodology overview

The diligence gap

For intelligent hardware, financial and legal DD are necessary. They are no longer sufficient.

In any ABF transaction, financial and legal due diligence are the non-negotiables: the lender must confirm ownership of the asset and verify it can generate the cash flows to service the debt. For conventional hardware (a fleet of trailers, a warehouse racking system), that combination is typically sufficient. For intelligent hardware (physical equipment whose productive value depends not only on the asset itself, but also on software, connectivity, hosted services or data), it is not. The asset's ability to generate cash flow is now contingent on software the borrower may not fully control. That changes the diligence requirement entirely.

When hardware, software, and capital converge in a single credit facility, operational risk sits at an intersection. Financial DD, legal review, and software escrow each cover part of the picture, and coverage of the intersection itself is uneven.

The 2025 collapses of First Brands and Tricolor exposed the cost of weak collateral controls and limited independent verification.

Routinely assessed

✓ Financial due diligence, accounts, cashflow, DSCR

✓ Contract and collateral review

✓ Legal documentation and escrow arrangements

✓ Source code custody (software escrow only)

Where coverage is uneven or asset-specific

– Hardware-software integration risk assessment

– Operational continuity and backup servicing readiness

– Post-close monitoring of hardware and software assets

– Clock synchronisation analysis, hardware, software, and capital lifecycles

– Independent verification of the collateral itself: units against telemetry, liens, double-pledge exposure

– Credit-specific scored outputs for the investment committee

Market reference

In June 2026, Apollo and Blackstone closed a $35B financing for Anthropic's compute. A special purpose vehicle buys Google TPUs and leases them to Anthropic, with lease payments servicing the debt. Broadcom, which co-developed the chips with Google, backs the senior tranches, and that guarantee is credited with securing the investment-grade ratings.

By early October, banks were syndicating a further $60B package on the same pattern: $42B of senior debt carrying Broadcom's guarantee, $18B of junior debt without it.

At that scale, the manufacturer can be asked to stand behind the residual value. For an £8M robot fleet, there is no Broadcom, and the question is the same one.

What SOMA produces

Credit-committee-grade outputs from a scored methodology.

SOMA produces quantified, decision-ready outputs that feed directly into credit committee papers, in the language credit teams already use.

Advance Rate Guidance

Up to 80%, solved from stressed cash flows

The advance rate is solved from stressed facility cash flows, with the TCS band as a ceiling. Calibrated to the operational risk profile of the specific facility and asset class.

Risk-Adjusted Pricing

+50 to +250 bps above base, by TCS band

Margin and spread adjustments tied to specific operational risk factors identified during assessment.

Operational Covenants

Tied to measurable operational metrics

Facility covenant recommendations grounded in hardware uptime, software continuity, and deployment readiness.

Monitoring Triggers

30 – 90 day early warning

Multi-factor, high signal-to-noise triggers designed to surface operational stress before it reaches the financial statements.

TCS Rating

Six grades, A through F

A composite Technical Continuity Score mapping the operational risk profile to a credit-grade rating with advance rate implications.

Backup Servicing Playbook

Workout-ready protocols

Scenario-based continuity and step-in protocols defining who maintains hardware and software operations in a default or workout.

How it works

Structured to fit within deal timelines.

SOMA is designed to move at the pace your deal requires. Fixed scope, fixed fee, and a credit-committee-grade report as the deliverable. The MVP typically completes in 3–5 business days; a full assessment in 2–3 weeks. Where a deal moves faster, we structure around that.

Engage

Day 1

Confidential briefing on the facility. Define the asset class, structure, and key operational risk questions. Agree scope: SOMA MVP or full assessment.

Assess

Matches your deal timeline

Structured assessment against 125 factors across 7 risk dimensions. Rapid MVP (69 factors) typically 3–5 business days. Full assessment typically 2–3 weeks. Scope and pace are agreed at engagement.

Report

Credit-committee grade

Scored report with TCS rating, advance rate guidance, risk-adjusted pricing, covenant recommendations, and monitoring trigger framework.

Monitor

Post-close · Optional

Ongoing post-close monitoring using operational telemetry triggers. Multi-severity escalation protocols. Early warning 30–90 days ahead of financial distress.

Who it's for

Lenders underwrite. Companies prepare. Partners extend their coverage.

Lenders & Credit Funds

Underwrite with confidence.

For venture debt, ABL, equipment finance, and structured credit teams assessing operational risk in intelligent-hardware facilities. SOMA gives your investment committee the scored outputs it needs.

Discuss a facility

Hardware Companies

Become more financeable.

For CFOs and capital markets teams preparing for a facility raise. A SOMA assessment proactively addresses the operational risk questions lenders will ask, and produces a credit-credible report for your data room.

Prepare for a raise

Ecosystem Partners

Extend your coverage.

For structured finance platforms, law firms, escrow providers, and insurers who encounter the hardware-software-capital gap from an adjacent angle. SOMA complements your existing services.

Explore partnership

Asset classes and deal types

GPU-backed compute Robotics-as-a-Service Connected vehicle platforms EV charging infrastructure Intelligent vending

Investment diligence

SOMA also supports investment committees.

Credit and equity investment in the same intelligent-hardware asset class share a common question: does the technology actually perform at scale? The answer SOMA provides differs by committee, but the technical and operational depth is the same.

For credit committees

Advance rate. Covenants. Monitoring triggers.

Structured outputs calibrated to the lending decision, how much to lend, at what price, with what protections, and what to watch after close.

Advance rate guidance by TCS rating
Risk-adjusted pricing recommendations
Operational covenant design
Backup servicing and step-in protocols
Post-close monitoring trigger framework

same technical
depth, different
output

For investment committees

Defensibility. Scalability. Execution risk.

Technical and operational diligence structured for an equity lens, whether the technology is defensible, whether unit economics hold at scale, and whether the team can execute against hardware operations.

Technology defensibility and competitive moat
Operational scalability assessment
Unit economics and fleet-scale margin analysis
IP ownership and servicer dependency risk
Management execution capability against hardware operations

The output format, and the questions it answers, differs by committee type. The underlying technical and operational assessment does not.

Discuss an investment committee mandate

Why SOMA

Each existing provider covers its own piece. Intelligent hardware sits at the intersection.

Software escrow, technical due diligence, and operational DD each serve important functions. Each covers part of the picture. None was designed around the convergence of hardware, software, and capital within a single credit or investment context. That is where SOMA operates.

Capability	Software Escrow	Tech Due Diligence	Operational DD	SOMA Assurance
Source code custody & verification	Core	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Yes
Hardware integration risk assessment	Not typically in scope	Partial	Partial	Yes, scored
Credit-specific scored outputs	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Yes
Advance rate & pricing guidance	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Yes
Post-close operational monitoring	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Yes
Backup servicing & step-in playbooks	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Partial	Yes
Independent collateral verification (telemetry vs asset register)	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Partial	Yes, scored
Clock synchronisation analysis	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Not typically in scope	Yes, scored

Who built it

Built by someone who did the thing for 15 years.

Mihir Parikh, Founder, SOMA Assurance

At Jaguar Land Rover I built the connected-car operational layer. I saw at first hand how a corrupted over-the-air update can brick a working vehicle: no mechanical fault, nothing in the maintenance record, and the asset stops earning. That is the gap SOMA exists for. The equipment is fine, and it is worth less than it was yesterday.

SOMA was built by someone who spent 15 years constructing the hardware-software operational infrastructure that lenders are now being asked to underwrite. At Jaguar Land Rover, LeasePlan, The AA, and Xerox, at board level and at deployment scale.

The methodology is grounded in direct experience of what actually breaks when hardware, software, and capital desynchronise, and what it takes to hold those systems together through market stress, PE transitions, and global rollouts.

Jaguar Land Rover Architected Connected Car operational layer. Board-level investment case for hardware-as-a-service. MVP to scale across 6 countries, 3 continents.
LeasePlan PE-driven value creation delivering 14% EBITDA uplift. Technology diligence and residual-value forecasting.
The AA ML-driven predictive maintenance from telematics data. 1.5% year-on-year EBITDA uplift from operational intelligence.
Xerox B2B pivot to HW/SW/Print-as-a-Service. Capital and operations synchronised across £5–100M reseller network.

Most recently, a two-week technical and operational assessment of a connected vending portfolio, produced ahead of a credit committee decision.

MS Electrical Engineering, Syracuse University | MBA, London Business School